Second Best Year for Home Sales Since 2007

SANDY, Utah (Jan. 28, 2015) – The number of single-family homes sold in Salt Lake County in 2014 marked the second best sales year on record in nearly a decade at 11,575 units sold, down less than 2 percent compared to 11,767 units sold in 2013, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®.

“You have to go back to 2006, prior to the Great Recession, to find a stronger year in home sales,” said Dave Robison, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®. “We expect this year to be a solid sales year as more Millennials enter the housing market and buyers rush to beat a forecasted rise in mortgage interest rates this summer.”

Home sales increased 6 percent in the final quarter of 2014 to 2,810 units sold, up from 2,645 units sold in the fourth quarter of 2013. The quarterly increase followed a 3 percent drop in home sales in last year’s third quarter (year-over-year).

Other Wasatch Front counties saw big jumps in home sales in the fourth quarter including: Davis County, up 15 percent; Utah County, up 19 percent; and Weber County, up 4 percent. Home sales in Tooele County were down 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter.

Across the Wasatch Front (Salt Lake, Davis, Utah, Weber and Tooele counties) in 2014, there were 25,074 single-family homes sold, up 2 percent compared to 2013.

In Salt Lake County during the fourth quarter, most ZIP code areas witnessed rising home sales, but there were notable exceptions: Sandy (84070) was down 14 percent; West Jordan (84088) fell 12 percent; Emigration Canyon (84108) was down 33 percent; and Taylorsville (84123) saw its sales fall 15 percent.

In the fourth quarter, the median single-family home price sold in Salt Lake County rose to $255,000, up 4 percent compared to $245,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013. The Avenues (84103) posted the highest home prices along the Wasatch Front in the fourth quarter at 474,500, up 3 percent. Draper took the No. 2 spot at $412,350, up 10 percent. Alpine came in No. 3 at $397,500, down 9 percent.

Sales of condominiums in Salt Lake County increased 5 percent in the fourth quarter. The median condo price in Salt Lake County climbed to $173,000, up 2 percent compared to a median price of $169,731 last year.

New listings increased to 4,251 homes in the fourth quarter, up 5 percent from 4,036 listings in the fourth quarter of 2013.