Produce is vibrant and overflowing at the local farmers markets, the evenings are cooling off and the leaves have begun to change in the mountains. August is behind us and fall is coming. So how did our local real estate market do last month? Let’s take a look. 

 

Salt Lake City Housing Market Update

Not surprising, our median sales price continues to rise, checking in at $385,000 for August 2020. This is a 12% increase from last August when it was $345,000. 

 

 

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July 2020 broke records in terms of the total number of sales, in both Salt Lake and Park City. In August though, we saw levels decline a bit, down to more normalized numbers. There were 1,773 total units sold in Salt Lake County for August 2020, which is nearly identical to August 2019 total sales of 1,777. 

 

That’s a pretty significant drop of almost 11% from one month to the next, and right in the middle of the summer selling season. So what is driving the change? The biggest culprit, in our opinion, is buyer exhaustion. Exhaustion from the lack of inventory, exhaustion from multiple offer bidding wars, and exhaustion from the busy pace of the market. 

 

We’ve been watching our inventory levels slide lower and lower with each passing month since the pandemic settled in. Back in April our housing inventory was 25% lower than the previous year, and this month, it is now sitting 45% lower year-over-year. As of August 31, 2020 there were 1,465 active listings available for sale in Salt Lake County – this includes homes, townhomes, twin homes and condos. At the end of August 2019, that number was 2,662. 

 

Park City Housing Market Update

For the Park City area, we are experiencing similar trends. The median sold price is $1,950,000 which is up 38% from August 2019. The median price per square foot also increased substantially year-over-year, up 27% to $526. 

 

Inventory levels have steadily decreased in Park City too. Currently there are 299 available listings, which is down 38% from last year when there were 488 listings in August 2019.

 

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Looking at the data makes it quite obvious that low inventory is the driving force behind our market today in both Salt Lake City and Park City. 

If you have questions about what is exactly going on in your specific neighborhood, don’t hesitate to reach out. It is a very dynamic market and we are here to help guide you through it.