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Single-family home prices in Utah County rose 17.5% the past 12 months, but now that interest rates have gone up and are continuing to climb the market is slowing. Projections are that single-family home prices will continue to climb over the next year, but at a much smaller pace, around 5%.
The average price for the typical Utah County single-family home comes in now just a shade under $650,000. That home has about 3,100 square feet, four bedrooms, three baths and took an average of 22.5 days to sell, according to the Wasatch Front Multiple Listing System.
The chan
ging landscape
What does that mean for you if you are still in the market to buy or sell a home? When rates began to go up prices typically come down. But prices are still going up! That scenario could well impact what you get for your home going forward and could give buyers a breather.
The only prices coming down now are the asking prices of those folks who listed their property too late to catch the market before it changed. You never know when you’ve hit the peak, or the bottom, until it’s passed.
It’s interesting that the average asking price, just under $642,000, is less than the average sales price, which shows where we’ve been the past year. However, we’re still in a bit of a seller’s market. In July the average asking price of $713,040 was the highest so far in the last 12 months and about $13 higher than the average sales price for that month. Overall, buyers paid an average of 1 percent over asking in the last 12 months.
Sales are dropping
The number of July sales dropped to 487, well below June’s total of 655. It was the third slowest month this year; only January and February were lower.
I attended a training recently to learn what top agents are doing to keep their businesses going. According to the instructor, research showed that those agents paid for some of the buyers’ expenses of buying a home. Things like picking up the cost of a home warranty if the seller wouldn’t cover it, reimbursing the buyer’s inspection at closing and making it easy to get out of a deal if the buyers changed their minds.
The research also found that clients like to stay well-informed throughout the process. It’s not so much about price than it is about service.
I’m also seeing sellers beginning to pay some of the buyer’s closing costs and being willing to buy down the interest rate for the buyer because it has the potential of saving the buyer more money over the long haul than if the seller dropped the price.
So, I’m incorporating those concepts into my business. We’ll see where it goes. Let’s get together and discuss it, whether you’re buying or selling. I’m sure we can come up with a plan you’ll really like.
