Utah Real Estate Market Conditions

President Bush passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act Today. This bill offers a $7,500 tax credit for first time home buyers. $7,500 direct tax savings just for purchasing a house as a primary residence in the next 11 months.

If I didn't already own a home, I think this tax savings would motivate me to buy. The only problem is that I'm not normal. Real Estate is all I think about, and I'm always looking for ways to find a deal. How will the general renting population act to this extra incentive? Will it be enough to form a chain reaction that will turn our housing economy around as new buyers start buying, home sellers move up, and the huge surplus of inventory returns to a normal level? Or, will it just be a nice bonus for those that happen to be buying for a first time in the next year.

There is another catch associated with this tax credit, it's really an interest free tax loan. Yes, the credit has to be paid back over the next 15 years. However, if you receive your tax credit but then sell your home with no equity, it doesn't need to be paid back. This adds a little different twist too the effectiveness of the first time buyer tax credit.

Personally, I think this tax credit will have a positive impact, I just have no idea how much. If the tax credit was the buyers to keep, I think it would help the housing market a whole lot more.

There are currently more than 763 active residential listings in Cache County. Thats a lot of listings and there is clearly a suprlus in real estate inventory. Year to date there has only been 594 listings sold. There is a good chance that many of the active listings will remain unsold going into 2009. Here is a break down of the different price range of homes that have sold compared to the number of active listings in each price range.

      
Sold Homes DOM   Active Listings  DOM  

 
$60,000      1      0      4    49      25%
$70,000      3      43    8    109    38%
$80,000      8      45    7    117    114%
$90,000      21    22    10  103     210%
$100,000    33    55    36    79    92%
$120,000    59    57    33    78    179%
$140,000   105   51    78    77    135%
$160,000    89    55    99    79    90%
$180,000    68    57    84    84    81%
$200,000    97    86    107  97    91%
$250,000    46    97    101  128    46%
$300,000    24    83    61    117    39%
$350,000    17    92    44    158    39%
$400,000    7      80    19    94    37%
$450,000    2      70    16    90    13%
$500,000    6     102   14    101    43%
$600,000    1      23    14    122    7%
$700,000    0             5    108    0%
$800,000                    5    59    0%
$900,000                    5    96    0%
$1,250,000                2    71    0%
$1,500,000                 1    7    0%
$3,000,000               1    420    0%

See more at Logan Real Estate Blog

Hyrum offers the most affordable real estate in Cache County. The median price of homes for sale in Hyrum is $159,900 and the average price is just $178,000. There are currently 55 active real estate listings in Hyrum.  In the first half of 2008 43 homes were sold in Hyrum.

Hyde Park real estate has a little bit of an inventory problem. There are a lot of high end homes for sale, and people just aren't buying expensive homes right now. Hyde Park city currently has 49 active MLS real estate listings. 33 of these listings are priced above $250,000.  In the last six months there have only been 9 houses sold in Hyde Park more expensive than $250,000. The active listings>$250,000 have already been on the market for an average of 168 days. The majority of these homes are new construction spec homes that have never been lived in.

If you're in the market for a nice home in Hyde Park you definitely have some negotiating room. Most of the builders/sellers are to the point where they just want to sell. They have realized that they are not going to be making the huge profits they wanted.  

Growth in one of Utahs fastest growing cities has slowed down substantially this year. There were about 100 homes sold in West Haven in the first half of the year. The average price of the homes that sold was $244,284 and the median price was $218,860.

There are currently 172 residential homes for sale in West Haven. This number continues to go up and doesn't appear to be declining any time soon.The average list price of these homes is $292,073 and the median list price is $289,000. These prices are higher than what most people are willing to pay.

It's a buyers market in West Haven, especially for the more expensive homes.

Real estate in Roy Utah is actually moving along quite well. Homes are selling, and there isn't a huge surplus of real estate.

In the first half of the year 309 residential homes sold in Roy. The median price of these homes was $164,400. Currently there are 253 active MLS listings. These Roy homes for sale have a median list price at almost $180,000.

The low price of homes in Roy has helped its market to keep moving. People will always need housing, in today's economic times there just isn't as much demand for really big expensive homes.

Real Estate in Ogden is the least expensive for urban areas of Northern Utah. The 2008 median price of homes sold in Ogden is $125,000, nearly half of the Northern Utah median average sold price of $212,000. One of the big real estate problems with most of Utah is the huge surplus of high end homes. Ogden has very few "high end homes" but it still may be struggling from the fact that the average Ogden listing is still substantially  more expensive than the average price people are willing to pay for Ogden Homes.

At the beginning of July, Ogden had 841 active MLS listings. This includes homes, condos, and occasionaly a mobile home. These listings had a median price 20% higher than the median sales price.  At the second quarter sales pace of 115 homes sold each month, it would take 8 months to sell the remaining inventory.

Approximately 140 listed homes were sold in in North Ogden in the first half of the year. The average sold price of these hoes was $201,304 and the median price was $182,750. In the second quarter, 60 homes were sold with a median price at $192,000 and an avarage price of $210,000. At the Q2 pace Ogden has 8 months of available inventory.

Ad the mid year point there were 157 homes and condos for sale in N. Ogden. The average price of these listings was $252,251 and the median price was almost $240,000.

How's the real estate market in Hooper?

Here are a few facts, and I'll let you determine for yourself. Currently there are 85 active MLS listings in Hooper. The median price of these listings is $282,000 and the average list price is $290,807. These listings have been on the market for an average of 99 days. The number of active MLS listings does appear to be on the decline.

In the first half of 2008 36 homes sold. These homes had an average sold price at $272,664 and a median sold price of $261,000. In the second quarter, 18 homes sold in Hooper.

The Eden Real Estate market has taken the extremes. While it was one of the hottest areas a couple years ago, it is now ice cold. Almost nothing is moving in Eden, and it has more inventory per Q2 sales than any other city in Utah.

Currently there are 165 residential homes for sale in Eden. During the first half of the year, only 30 MLS listings actually sold. In the second quarter, 16 homes sold, and at the pace of 5 homes sold a month it will be nearly 3 years before the present supply of inventory is exhausted.

The median price of homes listed for sale is $419,000. The median price of homes that have sold this year in Eden is $383,000. Unless some economic factors dramatically change soon, the Eden real estate market will be slow for a while so hold on tight.