The Salt Lake City housing market has been on FIRE for the last several years. Due to extreme housing shortages for the huge influx of people moving here for jobs, home prices have been rising steadily for quite some time. It’s been tough for buyers to find homes, especially on the lower end of the price spectrum.
No one expected the Salt Lake housing market to be any slower this spring. Every prediction has been that things would stay hot in our area for the foreseeable future, with home prices continuing to rise at a regular pace.
The COVID-19 Impact
Of course, these predictions were all made before COVID-19 hit in the United States. And while there’s no question that the virus has had a huge economic impact, including the housing market, it’s hard to say exactly how things are going to shake out.
Right now, people are still finding ways to work with Realtors® to buy and sell homes. It hasn’t seemed to reduce listings or change how quickly offers are put on the table. As long as buyers continue to come to Utah and there is a shortage of inventory, it’s hard to see things changing much in our market, though it is true that some people have pulled out of contracts due to their own financial uncertainty.
It will be interesting to see what happens with progress on new construction because of the pandemic. Due to how much we need new homes, everyone’s hopeful that the impact won’t be too large.
Price
The median sold price for Salt Lake City homes during the first quarter of this year was $362,500. Last year, that number was $325,000, which is an increase of 11.54%. Wow! So, you can see how strong 2020 has started off when it comes to home prices, and you can also see that price increases aren’t slowing down at all.
This number is also up from $347,500 during just the last quarter of 2019.
The median home price during the first quarter of 2017 was $275,000. You’re sitting on some pretty nice equity if you bought a home in our area just a couple of years ago! If you buy a home now, you’re likely to see some nice equity increases over the next few years (Zillow is predicting 4.2% this year).
Days on Market
Salt Lake City-area homes are selling very quickly due to just how little housing inventory there is for all the people who are moving here for jobs and our strong economy.
Homes are at a median of 24 days on the market versus 30 days on the market last year. We’ll have to wait and see how that changes during the second quarter of the year with the pandemic going on.
However, note that the median was 20 days during the same period in 2017 and 2018, so things have slowed a bit since then.
Number of Homes Sold
There were 3,360 homes sold in the first quarter of this year versus 3,279 last year. This is another indicator that the housing market has been off to an equally strong start in 2020.
Interest Rates
Just a quick note about mortgage interest rates before I sign off! March saw some truly bonkers interest rate fluctuations between the COVID-19 epidemic and the Fed cutting rates (and a lot of things going on behind the scenes with bonds and investors). Let’s just say that interest rates are historically low and seem to be stabilizing over the past little bit.
I highly recommend meeting with a lender and getting your application in so you can lock in your rate as soon as you see one you like. We’re all hoping to see a little more stability now!
In short, it’s likely still going to be a great year to sell here in Salt Lake City and will also be a good time to try to find just the right home for you. If you’d like any help buying or selling during this time (or in the future), please get in touch! I’m here to do everything I can to meet your real estate needs.
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