Salt Lake Board of Realtors Releases 2010 Housing Forecast

The Salt Lake Board of Realtors released its 2010 Housing Forecast. After two very difficult years, existing home sales in Salt Lake County are poised for a rebound.

The past housing downturn ranks No. 2 in terms of its severity, according to the report. Beginning in 1977 Salt Lake County experienced a housing downturn that lasted four years, with home sales falling 55 percent.

The latest downturn lasted two years, but was vicious in its magnitude. Between 2007 and 2008 home sales dropped 42 percent, falling from 15,300 home sales to 8,800 home sales. However, in 2009 home sales increased to 9,100 sales, a 3 percent increase compared to 2008.

The increase in home sales in 2009 suggests that 2008 was the bottom of the downturn. In 2010, as many as 10,000 homes could be sold in Salt Lake County, a nearly 10 percent increase compared to sales in 2009.

Since the peak, single-family home prices have retreated 13 percent. Local housing prices will continue their drift downward in 2010, falling another 3 to 5 percent, the report noted. At the end of the fourth quarter, the median price of a single-family home in Salt Lake County was $222,000, down 13 percent compared to $255,000 at the peak of the market (third quarter 2007).

The Salt Lake Board of Realtors commissioned James Wood, economist and director of the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, to conduct the study. For a complete copy of the study, please contact Dave Anderton, communications director of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors at 435.671.0777.