About 6 percent fewer Salt Lake County new homes and condos went unsold in the first quarter compared to the 2007 fourth quarter, but far more new homes are lingering on the market than a year ago.

Statistics released Monday by Salt Lake-based real-estate research firm Newreach indicated that 977 new homes and condominiums were unsold in the first quarter, down from a record 1,037 in the prior quarter. But the first-quarter total last year was less than half that, at 437.

Meanwhile, the number of homes and condos under construction slipped from 1,605 in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 1,111 in the 2008 first quarter. First-quarter homes under construction dipped 55 percent year over year.

The combined underconstruction and new-but-unsold figure of 2,088 represents about a nine-month supply of new housing inventory in Salt Lake County, based on 715 new-home closings in the first quarter.

"Essentially, you're finding builders not building homes right now, because they have some already sitting on books, and before they build anything new, they'll get what they have, sold," said Jason Eldredge, executive vice president of sales for Newreach.

Eldredge acknowledged also that seasonality contributed to the high numbers of the past two quarters, "because new home starts are very hard to do when it's freezing and there's frozen ground and a ton of snow." Also, fewer people buy homes during the November-January holidays.

Home starts likely will still be down during the coming warmer months, "because of the way the industry is running," but it could give the industry time for closings to pick up, he said.

The total of unsold new homes and condos in Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Wasatch, Weber, Tooele and Washington counties was 3,615 in the fourth quarter of 2007 but fell to 3,329 in the 2008 first quarter. The number under construction fell 15 percent to 4,571.

The highest numbers of unsold new homes in Utah were in Lehi, with 263, followed by Saratoga Springs' 204, South Jordan's 189, St. George's 167 and Eagle Mountain's 157.

Some of those figures led to Utah County having 982 unsold new homes and condos, about flat with 987 in the 2007 fourth quarter. Davis County had 624 in the fourth quarter and 501 in the 2008 first quarter.

The average price of a single-family home in Salt Lake County in the first quarter rose to $380,000, up from $358,200 in the prior quarter and $364,000 a year earlier. Utah's average price was $316,000, down from $349,000 a year earlier.

Eldredge said new homes priced under $325,000 are continuing to sell, meaning that deals and incentives being offered for homes in that range could dry up by year-end. Homes over $375,000 remain "somewhat unaffordable, or if people are moving into those homes, they still need to sell their existing homes first, because it's a move-up buy."