Utah home sales up 51%

Sales of existing homes and condominiums in Utah increased 51 percent in the three months ended June 30, compared to the same quarter in 2003, according to a new report from the Utah Association of Realtors.

And that could put Utah on pace for a record-setting year.

Statewide during the quarter, real estate agents sold 10,746 homes and condominiums, compared to 7,130 units sold during the same period a year ago.

The average sales price of all homes and condominiums was $185,238, compared to $171,875 for the same quarter last year. Excluding Park City sales, which inflate the average, the average statewide sales price in the second quarter was $172,939, compared to $163,790 a year ago.

"The housing market continues to remain strong," Butch Dailey, president of the association, said in a prepared statement. "With these impressive statistics, I have reason to believe that 2004 will be a record-setting year for home sales."

In Salt Lake County, the average sales price of a home rose to $197,529, up from $187,136 in last year's second quarter. Condominium prices also showed gains at $136,906, up from $125,667 a year ago.

In the Park City area, 242 homes were sold at an average sales prices of $557,000, compared to 165 homes sold at an average price of $485,000 in last year's quarter. Condominium sales in Park City increased to 242 units sold at an average price of $335,000, compared to 200 units at $239,000.

"I've sold real estate here since 1979, and this is as busy as I've ever seen it," said Maire Rosol, an associate broker at Lewis, Wolcott and Dornbush and former president of the Park City Board of Realtors. "The real estate agents are multiplying like amoebas."

Rosol said multiple offers are common on properties priced right. Park City's historic district and Park Meadows are the hottest selling areas, she said.

"We're getting increasingly more people from Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, mid-Atlantic states and the Miami-Boca Raton, Fla., area," Rosol said. "The whole country right now is still hot. We've certainly had enormous growth in the past year, but nothing like Southern California and nothing like Washington, D.C., or New York."