Home sales drop: Wasatch Front prices steady as '07 ends

The number of sales of single-family homes dropped as much as 47 percent in some areas of the Wasatch Front during the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with the same period in 2006, according to figures released Thursday by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors.

Despite the steep drop in sales, the prices of houses along the Wasatch Front held their value, with the median price rising 1.7 percent over the same 12-month period.

The board compiled the data from the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service.

In Salt Lake County, the number of homes sold in 2007 fell 23.5 percent from 2006. In 2007, the number of single-family homes sold was 11,622, compared with 15,182 sold the previous year.

Utah County experienced the biggest decline in home sales, falling 46.6 percent in fourth quarter of 2007, compared with the same period in 2006. Weber County dropped 32.9 percent, while Davis County was down 31.6 percent, and Tooele County's sales volume decreased 29.7 percent.

The median single-family home price in each county, however, went up. Weber had the highest median-price appreciation, at 11.4 percent, followed by Tooele County at 8.6 percent, Davis at 3.3 percent, Salt Lake at 1.7 percent, and Utah County at 1.3 percent.

The numbers are a wake-up call, said Ryan Kirkham, a vice president with the Realtors' board.

"The truth of the matter is we're out of whack," he said. "We need to get realistic and realize that we need a slight correction."

Kirkham said that as the housing market boomed in recent years, "home prices kept going up, and everyone had this expectation that prices were going to keep skyrocketing." That unrealistic belief helped fuel record growth that eventually would have to subside, and now the market is feeling those effects, he said. But in time, the housing market will bounce back.

"The positive news is the economy is good, job growth is good, the rates are incredible," Kirkham said. "We're at sub-6 percent for a 30-year mortgage, which is absolutely incredible."

The low mortgage rates will be a great incentive for qualified borrowers who are in the market for purchasing a home, he said.

"Rates and the economy are the really good points that we can build on," he said. "We can't hide the fact sales are down, and we also can't hide the fact that job growth is up."