What’s Next For Our Local Housing Market? 

It was just months ago that we were all feeling pretty good about the economy, the local housing market and looking forward to a summer full of vacations, family and friends. 

After a pandemic, social distancing, furloughs, and America’s heartbreaking week last week, it has us all wondering, what’s next? 

Amidst the uncertainty, we have found that we are getting back to business here in Utah. It isn’t business as usual, but we are still here. People still need homes. We are still open for business. And the recent data suggests that the Utah housing market has so far been quite resilient. 

Home prices are holding up – and have actually increased a bit here in our local market. Big data machine Zillow predicts that home prices are not going down this year, because we can still buy and sell homes safely. 

Virtual tours, clean homes, virtual negotiations and a socially distanced closing – everyone involved can truly remain safe. 

What is needed in real estate now, is high market intelligence. Local insight has never been more valuable. You can find both positive and negative housing market reports on any given day, especially if you’re reading national headlines. 

Locally, our buyers are out there, which is evidenced by the fact that mortgage applications continue to rise. And homes are still selling. So if you had been planning on selling this summer but the uncertainty of it all has (understandably) led you to pause – we’d urge you to look at the numbers if you’d still like to get your home sold this summer. 

Last month, when we were deep in pandemic uncertainty and home quarantine, here is what actually happened in the Salt Lake real estate market. 

First, the bad news, which is that the total number of home sales were down 30%. 1,313 total homes sold in May 2020, compared to 1,867 in May 2019. And days on market increased from 13 to 16. (Although that’s still pretty great – 16 days is the median time it took for homes to receive an offer.)

But here is the good news: the median sold price was actually up 5% to $369,000 and the percentage of selling price to list price (i.e. how much did you have to reduce your price for your buyer) remained steady at 99%. Median price per square foot also increased to $172 from $161 in May 2019. 

These numbers reflect the confidence we are experiencing with buyers in the market right now, and our sellers who have been able to safely sell their home. It also reflects what we are seeing in home prices – that they have remained strong. 

June is generally always thought of as one of the best months to sell a home, with many industry analysts stating that you’ll actually garner a premium for selling during the hot summer months. 

The reality is that you can absolutely sell a home right now. And our local data indicates that now is a really good time to do so. 

Have more questions? We want to help. Send us a text, an email or message through social media. We’re here, in the home office, and would love to talk.