SALT LAKE CITY — While not a crash, the housing market in Salt Lake County is feeling a bit of a crunch with numbers not seen in over a decade.
The median single-family home price in the county dropped to $541,900 in December 2022, a 6% decrease over the same period a year earlier, marking the first year-over-year decline since 2011.
The median price is well below $650,000, which was the peak set in May 2022 at the end of the recent home-buying rush, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. Since that high, home prices have fallen 17% in the county.
In all, home sales in all of 2022 were down 26% from 2021, which the group says is the single biggest year-to-year drop since records began being kept in 1997.
During the jolt of home sales during the pandemic, Salt Lake County single-family home prices increased nearly 60% from March 2020 through May 2021.
Homes are also spending a lot more time on the market, with the median listing time now reaching 41 days in December, up from just 9 days in 2021.
There is some good news for home buyers as mortgage rates continue to drop, with rates hitting 6.15%, which is the lowest they've been since September.
Despite the possibility that home prices will continue their decline in Salt Lake County, the board says there are still opportunities for sellers.
“Demand for housing is strong because of net in-migration and population increase,” said Rob Ockey, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. “More than one-third (38%) of all active listings on UtahRealEstate.com are under contract, which indicates there is still strong buyer demand in our market.”
