Number of homes sold falls

The volume of existing home sales in northern Utah took a serious nose dive in the final three months of last year, according to a report released Tuesday.

Data from the Salt Lake Board of Realtors showed that sales in Tooele County dropped 40.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year. Weber County sales fell 21.8 percent year over year, Salt Lake County sales declined 21.1 percent and Davis County sales decreased 18.2 percent over the period.

Only Utah County bucked the trend along the Wasatch Front, as existing home sales rose slightly — up 1.6 percent — during the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter in 2007.

While sales volume fell significantly during the period, the median sales prices of homes in the five counties were relatively stable. The report stated that the median sales price in Salt Lake County declined 0.17 percent for the year over year period to $239,500. That was followed by Weber County at $167,000 — a decrease of 0.54 percent. Tooele County was down 1.1 percent to $188,000, while Utah County decreased 2.5 percent to $230,000 and Davis County's median sales price fell 3.6 percent to $216,900.

"This report shows that prices are going down, but not as dramatically as in other areas of the country," said Kendall Oliphant, senior vice president of Thredgold Economic Associates.

He warned that Utah has avoided some of the steep price declines that neighboring Western states have experienced, though 2009 could be rough.

"A bottom is coming," Oliphant said. He said that low point would probably come in the later part of this year.

"There are concerns about the economy out there," he said. "People are worried that there will be income to support a mortgage payment."

Oliphant said that besides falling prices, Utah would likely continue to see slower sales volume in 2009.

For 2008, sales volume was down at least 20 percent in each of the five counties compared with the previous year, and 34.1 percent for Tooele County. Despite the decline in home sales, Weber County was the only one of the five to experience an increase in median sales price for the year, improving 2.9 percent compared with 2007. All other counties saw slight decreases.

The report, which tracks quarterly single-family home and condominium sales in the five-county region, indicated that 64 of 81 ZIP codes surveyed experienced decreases in median sales prices.