MARCH HOUSING WATCH Demand for Housing Remains at Record Levels as Utah’s Population Swells Lower housing inventory levels led to fewer home sales in the first quarter, but demand for homes remains at record highs. Across the fivecounty Wasatch Front area, there were 7,703 overall home sales (all housing types) in the first quarter, down 3 percent from 7,978 sales in the first quarter of 2020. In March, home sales (all housing types) in Salt Lake County increased to 1,381 sales, up 5 percent year over year. Pending sales (under contract) climbed to 1,591, up 20 percent from March 2020. “More new housing is needed to meet overwhelming buyer demand,” said Matt Ulrich, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®. “In April, the Census Bureau reported that Utah was the fastest-growing state since 2010. More than 500,000 people were added to our population over the past decade. Going forward, we expect those numbers to accelerate.” In Salt Lake County, single-family sales were down 1 percent year over year in the first quarter. Tooele County sales were down 4 percent. Utah County saw sales fall 7 percent. Davis singlefamily sales dropped 16 percent. Weber County witnessed the biggest decline at 18 percent. While single-family sales fell, sales of condominiums, townhomes, and twin homes increased in two of the five Wasatch Front counties. In Salt Lake County, multifamily sales were up 12 percent. In Weber County, sales of condos and townhomes soared to 199 units, up 52 percent. Home prices continued to rise rapidly. In Salt Lake County, the median single-family home price in the first quarter climbed to $468,000, up 17 percent ($68,000) from a year earlier when the median price was $400,000. Utah County’s median single-family home price was the second highest on the Wasatch Front at $450,000, up 20 percent from the first quarter of 2020. Davis County posted a median price of $430,000, up 21 percent year over year. Tooele County’s median price increased to $360,000, up 18 percent. Weber County’s median price rose to $340,000, up 23 percent from a year ago. The overall median home price (all housing types) of the five-county Wasatch Front area was $395,000, up 17 percent from $339,000 a year ago. Wasatch Front homes were on the market a median of five days in the first quarter, down from 28 days in the first quarter of 2020. Cash sales of homes on the Wasatch Front increased to 15 percent in the first quarter, up from 10 percent in the same period in 2020.
28 | Salt Lake Realtor ® | May 2021
