Utah Real Estate Market Conditions

I've recently read two positive reports regarding the end of the nationwide housing crisis, and the probability of a large increase of home sales next year. Fannie Mae is saying that the housing recession has ended. Home sales are expected to rise next year by double digits, and new construction is expected to increase by more than 30% compared with this year. Utah Real Estate seems to now be about on pace with the national trends. Here are three reasons why Now is a GREAT time to buy Utah Real Estate.

Home Buying Tax Credits

The $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers has been extended through April. In addition, it has been expanded, and a $6,500 credit is available for existing homeowners wanting to buy.

Plenty of Choices for High End Real Estate

There are plenty of homes in the upper price ranges throughout Northern Utah, and many of these are vacant, and have been on the market for a very long time. The sellers are motivated and may accept far less than list price.

Mortgage Interest Rates will Never be this Low Again

Mortgage Rates are artifically low. Over the past 3 years, the average mortgage interest rate has been 9.1%! Currently, 30 year fixed conventional mortgages with 80% LTV are less than 5%; 15 year fixed, and 5-1 ARMS are even less! If you got a $250,000 home loan right now at 5% interest, you would have an almost identical monthly payment if you bought a home with a $200,000 mortgage loan at a 7% interest rate. The current interest rates make a huge difference in terms of affordability.

I'm a real estate professional, I make my money by selling real estate, so I might just be doing what I can to encourage people to buy now.... Or, it might really be that this winter will be the best time of your life to purchase Utah Real Estate.

I like the looks of this Cache Valley Real Estate sales graph compiled by Kaleb Kunz. It really shows how the number of homes sales in Cache County are improving.

Good graph compliled by Shane Calder that shows how Logan real estate sales have changed by month. It really looks like things are improving for year over year results, and we are getting out of the housing slump. The extension of the housing tax credit ought to help too.

It looks like Providence Real Estate is on the market for a little longer than Cache Valley Real Estate as a whole. This is probably in large part because the average home in Providence is larger and more expensive than the average home in Cache County.

Some insight on Providence Utah Real Estate trends provided by my good buddy and collegue Shane Calder.

It does look like  Logan Real Estate prices are staying pretty stable though. The price per square footage is clearly down from a year ago, but it's been pretty consistent over the last few months.

According to Kalebs graphs, the average sales time for Logan Homes is steadily going up. Even though inventory is down, and home sales up, there are still a lot of homes that have been on the market for a long time that are just now selling.

October was a good month for real estate in Logan Utah, the third best month of the year to be exact. For Cache County as a whole, we broke triple digits for the number of homes sold. Home sales were up by 10% compared with last month, and up by more than 6% compared with October of last year.

From an analysis of the home sales statistics, it is obvious that a good number of the home buyers during October were first time home buyers who wanted to take advantage of the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of the month. First time buyers generally by the smaller, less expensive Logan Homes. During the month we saw, the lowest average sold price in years, as well as the smallest average square footage per homes in over six years. 

It's still a great time to buy Logan Utah Real Estate, so contact a Cornerstone Real Estate Professional today.

Yesterday at our weekly office meeting we had representatives of Prestige Home Tending come tell us about their services. This caught me as a great idea, something that can be very valuable for people who have already relocated and are still trying to sell, as well as for people who want really cheap rent for really nice homes.

Right now there are thousands of vacant homes in Utah, especially of the more expensive variety. Vacant Homes sell slower, get more low ball offers, are more suseptible to vandalism, and can be substantially more expensive to insure. 

One solution to overcoming vacant home syndrome is to get people to live in them. With Prestige Home Tending this costs the sellers nothing, but gives them a lived in, professionally staged home, and someone to take care of it.

Here are some of the things having home tenders does:

• It makes the home alive.
• Saves them money on:
• Utilities
• Lawn care
• Snow shoveling
• Lower home owners insurance. A non occupied home insurance averages 6 times more than an occupied home.
• Less chance of vandalism
• Catch problems before they become a crisis, such as water line breaks or damages.
  
• Enhances curb appeal

Prestige home tending makes sure they get qualified, responsible tenders. To qualify as home tender, applicants must pass furniture checks, ensuring that their furniture is professional enough to accomplish staging purposes, as well as background checks. The home tending companies also perform random weekly checks to make sure the home is always in tip top condition and ready for home showings at a moments notice. Home tenders are employees and will move the people out if there are any problems.

The owners of Prestige Home Tending also own a moving company, Smooth Movers, and will provide moving services for the home tenders. Prestige home tending is currently available for Cache Valley Homes, Brigham City Homes, Weber County Homes, and Davis County Utah Homes.

Well during the third quarter of this year, Cache Valley Ut Home Sales were down 5.65%. 317 Cache County Homes sold compared with 336 during the same period last year. Home sales during the second quarter were down by 12.5% and during the first quarter were down 14.09%, so we are seeing improvement.

Third Quarter Cache Valley Utah Real Estate prices were also down compared with July-August of last year. The median sold price of Homes in Cache County was $166,727, down 3.63% from last years Q3 median sales price of $173,000. The average sold price of $187,075 was down 3.5% compared with last year. While the year over year Q3 comparison was down, both the median and average home prices were actually up compared with the second quarter of this year. Prices for Logan Utah Real Estate may have already bottomed out.