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SALT LAKE COUNTY -- Home sales have dropped 36 percent year to year in Utah, but real estate agents say the news isn't bad.
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Low prices and rates can't slow fall in home sales
Home prices in many parts of the country scream bargain, and mortgage rates haven't been this low for decades. So why are houses across the nation sitting on the market for so long?The Salt Lake Board of Realtors says the 36 percent drop comes when you compare July 2010 sales to July 2009 sales. But if you compare January to July 2009 and 2010, home sales for that seven-month stretch are 6 percent higher than in 2009.
"As expected, home sales have taken a pause, a reflection of home buyers jumping into the market before the federal home buyer tax credit expired on April 30," Bill Heiner, President of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, said in a news release Tuesday. "We anticipate a couple of more months of slower sales. However, given that Utah is now creating more jobs on a year-over basis and the record low mortgage interest rates, sales will return."
The board says the median price of all residential properties sold in July was $230,000 -- up 5 percent compared to a median price of $220,000 in July 2009, and there are roughly 7,700 existing homes and condominiums currently for sale in Salt Lake County.
