Utah home prices mixed

Salt Lake County home prices continued a solid rise in the second quarter, even as prices tumbled in neighboring Davis County.

For the three months ended June 30, the average sales price of a single-family home in Salt Lake County rose to $197,063, up 6.7 percent from $184,774 in the second quarter of 2003, according to the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service, which tracks sales of existing and newly constructed homes listed through a real estate agent.

Deseret Morning News graphicReal estate valuesRequires Adobe Acrobat.

The number of homes sold in Salt Lake County also showed a substantial gain as the summer selling season got under way.

In Salt Lake, 3,728 homes sold in the second quarter, an increase of 17.8 percent from 3,165 units sold in the same quarter a year earlier. It was the largest number of homes sold in a second quarter since the 2001 recession.

As more Salt Lake homes sold at higher prices, the number of days on the market declined to 52 days from 56 days a year ago.

Cindy Syrett, owner of Midvale-based Preferred Real Estate, believes Salt Lake is headed towards a seller's market, a market that has more buyers than sellers.

"I think it's coming back," Syrett said. "Certain areas are starting to get competing offers. The prices are starting to hold. Even in some cases you're getting multiple offers again."

Syrett added that bankruptcies and foreclosures in the state are declining, giving sellers an incentive to hold the line on asking prices.

Draper, South Salt Lake and Holladay witnessed the biggest percent change of increasing prices. The average sales price of a home in Draper was $340,184, the highest price along the Wasatch Front.

While Salt Lake homes showed price gains, Davis County prices dropped to $168,788, down 3.7 percent from $175,188 during the same quarter a year ago.

Jim Bringhurst, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, said the Davis County prices may be somewhat misleading due to new entry-level homes selling between $120,000 and $160,000.

Yet Davis County's second quarter average sales price remained above the 2001 and 2002 averages, which were $167,878 and $164,780, respectively.

Utah County prices fell slightly to $189,052, down from $189,757. The slight fall was led by declines in Santaquin, Payson, Orem, Lindon and Provo.