December 2005 - Salt Lake City Home Values

Greetings!

Here's an update on what's going on in Salt Lake Real Estate this year.  We’ll start with what all you property owners really want to know!

Home Values:

The prices of homes in Salt Lake County have been going up in 2005.  I’m sure you’ve seen it on the News and read it in the Newspapers and have been wondering about the specifics, so here they are.  The graph below shows property values from the 3rd quarter 2001 to the 3rd quarter 2005.

The Blue line is the average price of a home Sold in Salt Lake County
The Green line is the number of homes Listed in SL County
The Red line is the number of homes Sold in SL County

Average Home Sales per Quarter

Salt Lake County

Last Updated: October 20 2005 02:09:14

Look at that huge spike in price!  So why the big increase this year?  The demand for homes has increased which has reduced the supply, decreased the time to sell and increased the sales price of homes. 

The increase in demand for homes is the result of a few things.  An improved economy, continued low interest rates, and an increase in Net Migration into Salt Lake County and the state of Utah. 

The Salt Lake Tribune recently reported that the net migration into the state of Utah over the last year has been 40,647 people after subtracting the people who moved out of state.  The report further states that this is the biggest net migration into Utah since the last housing boom that started in 1992.

Salt Lake County grew by 23,119 people over the past year, the majority of which was Net Migration into the area.

Prices have increased this year all over Salt Lake County from Salt Lake City to Sandy, West Valley to Herriman, homes, condos and income property.  So congratulations everyone on being a little richer!

Home Selling Preparation & Equity Building Strategies

This year I was fortunate enough to know that people were going to sell prior to the time they wanted to list their home. This is great, because I can meet and walk through the home with the client(s) and we can look at the home together and discuss how to prepare it for sale to maximize the value.

Usually the home owner already has some ideas.  Between their ideas and a few of my suggestions we can come up with a plan that will increase the value and help them avoid spending money and time on projects that won’t increase the value.  I think that preparing the home to show is the most important step in selling a home.

This year these plans resulted in an estimated 3% to 7% increase in the overall sales price of my client’s homes.  Some homes are perfect and ready, but most homes need a little prep work.  A second set of trained eyes, like I have now from seeing thousands of homes, can help sell the home for more money.

If you’re thinking about making improvements to your home to prepare it for sale or just want to build some equity, call me, we’ll get together and discuss your ideas.

The New SLCHomeBuyer.com

Back in July 2004, I launched SLCHomeBuyer.com.  It’s a free web site specifically for home buyers in Salt Lake City and County.

This year we upgraded the graphics and made the site more professional and user friendly.  The site contains answers to 29 home buying topics and many helpful links.  We also offer the Wasatch Front MLS (Multiple Listing Service), so you can freely search all the homes that are listed with agents. 

Please check it out if you haven’t already!

Special Thanks to Matthew Frandsen of Formaquest, THE Web Master!

Associate Broker:

This year I went to Real Estate Broker's school for 3 months, took the Utah state exam and became an Associate Broker.  My real estate knowledge has been refreshed and if I ever decide to, I can start my own company.

Thank You! 

Thank you everyone for helping me be successful in my business and life!  I love what I do and I’m happy to help any way I can.  Happy holidays everyone!        Kev