Housing Watch

JULY HOUSING WATCH

July Sets a New Record for Home Sales

“Ridiculously low mortgage interest rates and the delayed spring home buying season boosted July to a record setting month for home sales,” said Alicia Holdaway, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors ® .

Home sales in July climbed to a record high as buyers took advantage of record-low mortgage interest rates. For the month, 2,098 homes (updated number) were sold, up 15 percent from 1,820 sales in July 2019. It was the first time monthly sales surpassed 2,000 closings in Salt Lake County since the MLS began keeping records. “Ridiculously low mortgage interest rates and the delayed spring home buying season boosted July to a record setting month for home sales,” said Alicia Holdaway, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors ® . “In addition, more people are leaving major U.S. cities and relocating to Utah because of its quality of life and strong economy.” The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped below 3 percent in July, according to Freddie Mac. “This year has been anything but normal and as the uncertainty lingers, mortgage rates remain near record lows,” Freddie Mac said in a statement. “These rates continue to incentivize potential buyers and the home buying season, which shifted from spring to summer, will likely continue into the fall.” In neighboring Davis County, home sales in July increased to 609 units sold, up 12.2 percent from 543 sales in the same month last year. Salt Lake’s median sales price in July increased to $380,750, an 8.8 percent rise year over year. Inventory of homes for sale in Salt Lake County fell to 2,310 listings, down 37.5 percent from 3,696 listings in July 2019. The median home price in Davis County rose to $362,500, up 8.2 percent from a year earlier. Nationally, total existing-home sales jumped 24.7 percent from June to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million in July, according to the National Association of Realtors ® . The previous record monthly increase in sales was 20.7 percent in June of this year. Sales as a whole rose year-over-year, up 8.7 percent from a year ago (5.39 million in July 2019). “The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “With the sizable shift in remote work, current homeowners are looking for larger homes and this will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021.” First-time buyers were responsible for 34 percent of U.S. sales in July, down from 35 percent in June 2020 and up from 32 percent in July 2019. NAR’s 2019 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers – released in late 2019 – revealed that the annual share of first-time buyers was 33 percent. Individual investors or second-home buyers, who account for many cash sales, purchased 15 percent of U.S. homes in July, up from both 9 percent in June 2020 and from 11 percent in July 2019. All-cash sales accounted for 16 percent of transactions in July, equal to the percentage in June 2020 and down from 19 percent in July 2019. Distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – represented less than 1 percent of U.S. sales in July, down from 3 percent in June.

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We believe it’s time that we acknowledge the long history of housing discrimination in our country and the important role our industry plays in shaping neighborhoods.

We have engaged with an organization that helps companies like Windermere integrate and operationalize diversity, equity, and inclusion through learning, strategy, and data. Recently, we formed a diversity committee made up of Windermere agents, brokers, and staff who are passionate about helping us create awareness and affect change. We know we need to “start at home” by focusing on the change we can make within Windermere, and the rest will follow. We are committed to educating and bringing awareness to ourselves and our entire Windermere network on how we can bring about positive change. We understand this journey will be challenging and will not happen overnight. However, we are in this for the long haul and are confident that Windermere will help lead the way to positive change in the real estate industry.

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