Home prices hold steady, but sales drop along Wasatch Front

SANDY — Home prices along the Wasatch Front held steady for the most part over the past year, but the number of people selling their houses took a steep decline.

The Salt Lake Board of Realtors reported that existing home sales in Salt Lake County in September 2010 were down 27 percent compared to the same month last year. For the quarter, sales volume decreased nearly 21 percent from third quarter 2009.

Similar scenarios played out in other areas as well with Utah County home sales falling just over 23 percent year-over-year, while Davis County sales fell almost 26 percent and Weber County home sales declining more than 30 percent.

"The drop in home sales is a continued reflection of the weak economy and jobs market," said Bill Heiner, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. "In Utah, we have only added about 9,000 new jobs over the past year."

He said that when the job market begins to rebound, home sales will likely follow.

According to the report, median home sales prices were virtually unchanged in Salt Lake and Davis Counties, while Weber County prices decreased slightly at 3.73 percent and Utah County prices dropped nearly 8 percent for the year-over-year period.

Salt Lake County recorded the highest median sales price at $229,900, followed by Davis County at $209,500, Utah County at $205,761 and Weber County at $156,250.

Sales of condominiums in the third quarter in Salt Lake County fell 46 percent. The median price of condos sold in the third quarter was $165,000, down 1.5 percent compared to a median price of $167,500 in the same quarter last year.

The median price of all housing types — single-family, condominiums and townhomes — sold in September was $210,000, up 2 percent compared to a median price of $206,800 in September 2009.

Home sales all housing types from January through September were down 1 percent compared to the same nine-month period in 2009.

Single-family home sales in the third quarter in Salt Lake County were down 21 percent compared to a year ago. The median price of a single-family home sold during the period was $229,900, down 0.5 percent compared to a median price of $231,000 last year.

Many areas throughout Salt Lake County continued to see price decreases with the worst decline occurring in the South Salt Lake ZIP code of 84115, where prices fell 22 percent from last year.

Just a handful of areas saw sales price increases, including the Draper ZIP code of 84020, which climbed 22 percent; 84081 in West Jordan, up 10.7 percent; and 84109 in the Canyon Rim area of Salt Lake City — up 4.3 percent.

"There is still a lot of downward price pressure in the market," Heiner said. "However, as higher-end properties are heavily discounted, they are still selling well above the median price of most other properties."

"This is why some neighborhoods and cities are seeing price increases," he said.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com