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SALT LAKE CITY -- The real estate company Zillow says 81 percent of people across the country think the value of their home will not drop within the next six months. Local appraisers say these homeowners may be right.
"Home values are stabilizing and starting to recover, but I would say the recovery is, you know, real slow," said Connie York, owner of York Appraisal Services.
But she says these signs of recovery aren't happening everywhere along the Wasatch Front just yet.
"I did an appraisal where Taylorsville and West Jordan and Murray sort of come together, and values were still falling," York said.
She did an appraisal by the east bench of Provo last week, and values there were going up.
That's not to say all of the homes in Utah County are increasing in value, while home values are dropping in Salt Lake County. York says it's not uncommon for home values in one part of a city to go down while values in a different part of the same city go up.
Many different factors, such as supply and demand, could be behind this. Also, Realtors may have a harder time selling homes in an area where many houses look similar, so values would drop there.
But York says an overall stabilization within the next six months is probable, barring another catastrophe in the economy. She says low interest rates may also send values back up in some cases.
"More people can qualify, and then there are going to be buyers out there, and sellers are going to respond to that," York explained.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
