Home sales fall in 4Q08

Number of homes sold falls

By Jasen Lee

Deseret News
Published: January 28, 2009

The volume of existing home sales in northern Utah took a serious nose dive in the final three months of last year, according to a report released Tuesday.

Data from the Salt Lake Board of Realtors showed that sales in Tooele County dropped 40.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year. Weber County sales fell 21.8 percent year over year, Salt Lake County sales declined 21.1 percent and Davis County sales decreased 18.2 percent over the period.

Only Utah County bucked the trend along the Wasatch Front, as existing home sales rose slightly — up 1.6 percent — during the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter in 2007.

While sales volume fell significantly during the period, the median sales prices of homes in the five counties were relatively stable. The report stated that the median sales price in Salt Lake County declined 0.17 percent for the year over year period to $239,500. That was followed by Weber County at $167,000 — a decrease of 0.54 percent. Tooele County was down 1.1 percent to $188,000, while Utah County decreased 2.5 percent to $230,000 and Davis County's median sales price fell 3.6 percent to $216,900.

"This report shows that prices are going down, but not as dramatically as in other areas of the country," said Kendall Oliphant, senior vice president of Thredgold Economic Associates.

He warned that Utah has avoided some of the steep price declines that neighboring Western states have experienced, though 2009 could be rough.

"A bottom is coming," Oliphant said. He said that low point would probably come in the later part of this year.

"There are concerns about the economy out there," he said. "People are worried that there will be income to support a mortgage payment."

Oliphant said that besides falling prices, Utah would likely continue to see slower sales volume in 2009.

For 2008, sales volume was down at least 20 percent in each of the five counties compared with the previous year, and 34.1 percent for Tooele County. Despite the decline in home sales, Weber County was the only one of the five to experience an increase in median sales price for the year, improving 2.9 percent compared with 2007. All other counties saw slight decreases.

The report, which tracks quarterly single-family home and condominium sales in the five-county region, indicated that 64 of 81 ZIP codes surveyed experienced decreases in median sales prices.

Several ZIP codes saw double-digit declines in their median sales prices. Those ZIP codes included Utah County's 84043 in Lehi, where the sales prices fell 19.9 percent to $237,000. The Davis County ZIP code of 84010 in Bountiful saw a 16.7 percent decrease in prices to $238,500, as did Salt Lake County's 84092 in Sandy, where prices were down 16.3 percent to $340,000.

But some ZIP codes saw positive growth in median sales prices. In Utah County, the median sales price in the American Fork ZIP code of 84003 jumped almost 25 percent to $340,000. The Riverdale ZIP code of 84405 in Weber County saw an increase of 14.2 percent to $185,500. And the median sales price in the Salt Lake County ZIP code of 84124 in Holladay rose 12.8 percent to $397,500 — although sales volume fell 29.4 percent during the quarter.

Condominium sales dropped in all five counties surveyed, the report said. Sales in Salt Lake County were down nearly a third compared with the fourth quarter of 2007.

However, the median sales prices increased in three counties, with Tooele County experiencing a modest increase of 3.3 percent, and Utah County seeing a 2.4 percent rise. Davis County's median condominium sales price increased 15.7 percent.

In other Western states, deep discounts on foreclosed homes helped power sales of pre-owned homes in December, with metro areas in California, Nevada and Arizona leading the way, according to two reports released Monday.

In all, about 90,000 existing homes and condos were sold in December in the 13-state region. Without adjusting for seasonal factors, sales were up 36.4 percent from the same month in 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Since last summer, distressed home sales have made up an increasing slice of pre-owned home sales across once high-flying markets in California, Nevada and Arizona. That trend continued in December, helping to bring down the median home price across the West by 31.5 percent from the previous year to $213,100, the association said.

Nationally, existing home sales rose about 1 percent from December 2007, while the U.S. median home price slid 15.3 percent to $175,400.

Contributing: The Associated Press