Utah's housing market hasn't hit a wall, but sales in most of the larger markets are taking a nose dive as prices continue to move out of reach.
And those spotty conditions, reminiscent of the fortunes in once-booming California and Nevada housing markets, have housing consumers in the Beehive State buzzing about what could be in store.
The same localized double-digit home price inflation/double-digit home sales decline phenomenon that signaled the end of boom markets in neighboring states is showing up in Utah's Salt Lake County, Utah County and Davis County, three of the state's four largest housing markets.
Second quarter statistics from the Utah Association of Realtors (UAR) revealed a statewide disparity as home sales plummeted more than 10 percent statewide, but prices continued to rise 10 percent, compared to the same period last year.
Reporting to RealtyTimes.com's Market Conditions, Salt Lake City real estate broker Cathy Mooney, earlier this week, reminded Utahans about the local nature of real estate.
"Real estate consists of local markets and you need to rely upon local advice and statistics. Utah's economy is strong and the unemployment rate is low. The housing market is healthy, with homes continuing to appreciate in 2007, though not at the rate seen in 2006," she said, adding, "As a result, buyers have more properties to choose from and sellers are more realistic and motivated."
Local conditions certainly are key in Utah.
The association says if the high-end Park City market, with its million-dollar homes, is eliminated from the totals, the average statewide price increase was only 2.64 percent over the past year ending in the second quarter.
Park City itself, a popular vacation home community, saw home sales fall 11.58 percent and condo sales tumble 15.35 percent during the second quarter this year, compared to the same time last year. Home prices were down 7.8 percent, but condo prices, costing half as much as single-family homes, continued to soar, up 58.15 percent.
Another more expensive market, Wasatch County saw both prices and sales for single-family homes fall by 0.98 percent and 28.70 percent respectively.
Marcie Hahn, a real estate agent with Williams Realty in Salt Lake City, put it in perspective.
"Our real estate market along the Wasatch Front of Utah is still strong with good competition around the average sales price ($250,000) and even up to about $375,000 to $400,000 where it begins to soften. Our area is going through a normal stabilization after several years of banner growth. For a time, Utah was one of the most undervalued markets in the nation and, funny enough, we experienced our growth and coming up to value during the marked decline in housing markets across the nation," Hahn said.
"With the growth in the Wasatch Front real estate market came a dash of builders and developers buying up large tracts of agricultural land. Many housing subdivisions built during this period have targeted the mid- to high-end home market. And now we have an abundance of new or newer homes in the $400,000 to $700,000 range available on the market with not quite as many buyers looking in that range," she added.
The bigger story is in the larger markets where sales are down even as prices continue to grow.
Salt Lake County's single-family home price, averaging $298,214, was up 12.83 percent, while the condo average, $192,050, was up nearly twice as much, 23.28 percent, during the second quarter, according to UAR. Meanwhile, sales for homes dropped 17.10 percent and condo sales fell 6.01 percent.
Utah County home prices were up 16.52 percent as condo prices rose 16.10 percent. Sales were down 17.14 percent on houses and up 5.01 percent for condos.
Davis County, saw sales for both houses and condos fall 14.82 percent and 14.78 percent respectively as prices rose 21.17 percent for houses and 11.21 percent for condos.
The only large Utah housing market to see both sales and prices in both housing categories continue to climb was Weber County. Home prices were up 10.5 percent as sales rose 18.02 percent. Condo prices were up 3.92 percent and condo sales rose 4.7 percent.
Keeping the spotty housing market from tanking is Utah's strong economy, a job-generating engine producing thousands of new jobs each month and record low unemployment.
Utah's housing market also enjoyed a spillover boost from once booming markets in California and Nevada. Sky-high home prices in those states, when they were booming, forced buyers to look elsewhere.
However, Utah's ever escalating home prices are following in the footsteps of neighboring states' markets, and don't try to tell Utahans that isn't happening.
When Salt Lake City's Desert Morning News reported on the market Aug. 16 with the headline "Real Estate Still Looks Rosy In Utah, Local Experts Say", but then went on to indicate all was not well with the market, local residents bristled.
Thirty-three comments about the story, virtually all indicating dissatisfaction with the headline-story disparity, complained of "news flip-flops," "does not address reality," "attempts to appease the real estate cartel," " 'Rosy' is not a term to be used in a headline," among other comments.
What's really happening to reverse fortunes in Utah's housing market, according to Utahans who responded to the story, include "attendant greed and clueless euphoria," "cheap credit artificially goosed demand," "wages cannot support current housing prices," and the "pull back in mortgage lending," among others.
