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SANDY — Sales of single-family homes in Salt Lake County in the first three months of 2011 were nearly unchanged from a year ago during the same quarter, but showed a 27 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2009, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors.
In January, February and March of this year, there were 1,806 single-family homes sold in Salt Lake County — a decrease of 0.71 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010, but up 27 percent over the same period in 2009.
“The first quarter numbers, when compared with sales two years ago during the recession, are evidence that Salt Lake’s housing market is making a comeback,” said DeAnna Dipo, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. Last year at this time the $8,000 federal homebuyer tax credit inflated home sales, she said.
Dipo said there were a number of cities this year that posted gains in home sales during the first quarter, including Magna and Sandy — both up 12 percent; West Jordan — up 27 percent; along with Murray — up 29 percent.
The median price of all single-family homes sold in Salt Lake County during the first quarter fell almost 8 percent to $200,000 compared to a median sales price of $217,000 at the same period last year.
Within the five-county area covered by the quarterly report, only 17 of 84 ZIP codes saw increases in the year over year median sales price.
The Central City neighborhood ZIP code 84111 in Salt Lake City experienced a 34.29 percent hike in sale price for the quarter over the same period in 2010, with a median sales price of $169,000. Another Salt Lake City ZIP code, 84103, in the Federal Heights/Capitol Hill area saw a nearly 18 percent hike of its median sales price — up to $332,000.
The other ZIP code to experience a substantial increase was 84653 in Salem, up 16 percent from the previous first quarter period to $264,500.
Among the biggest declines, seven ZIP codes had median sales price decreases of at least 20 percent, including:
- 84660 in Spanish Fork -- down 20 percent
- 84315 in Hooper -- down 20.4 percent
- 84124 in Holladay -- down 21 percent
- 84054 in North Salt Lake -- down almost 23 percent
- 84058 in Orem -- fell just over 23 percent
- 84115 in South Salt Lake -- down about 28 percent
- 84401 in Weber County -- down almost 29 percent
Click here for a map of real estate values by ZIP code in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties.
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The market for condominium sales in Salt Lake County was also challenging with prices decreasing nearly 8 percent, with the median sales price falling to $150,000.
National home prices
Home prices are declining in many major U.S. cities, and at least 10 major markets are at their lowest point since the housing bubble burst, according to an Associated Press report.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index showed that prices fell in 19 cities during the first quarter — the seventh straight month of decreases.
Detroit was the only market to show a monthly gain, although the Motor City was one of five cities where home prices are currently below their January 2000 levels.
The cities with the steepest declines from January were Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis and San Francisco.
Email:jlee@ksl.com
