Salt Lake County had lowest home sales in a decade, what does it mean?

SALT LAKE CITY — During the month of June, Salt Lake County had the lowest home sales in 10 years.

And that was caused by a combination of things, according to Steve Perry, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. 

“Interest rates have gone up,” he said. “The Feds have raised the interest rates up. Home sale prices were at an all-time high and the two just finally clashed.”

What does this mean for the real estate market around the state?

“What it tells us is that we are stabilizing and that the last two years of increased home sales, or increased prices, have stopped,” Perry said. “It’s slowed down and it’s stopped. We are actually starting to see sellers have to lower their price a little bit to get the home sold.”

The slowdown doesn’t come as a shock to Perry.

“It wasn’t surprising,” he said. “We all knew that the craziness of the last two years of what our market has been doing had to end somehow.”

While there isn’t a huge drop in prices, it is heading in the right direction for buyers.

“But it’s the ones that can afford these types of homes,” Perry said. “They don’t have to get in competition with 30 other offers, right? They don’t have to put cash above list price.”

While it still may be a seller’s market, Perry says it may take anywhere between 30 to 90 days to buy a home. 

Mark Jones contributed to this story.

Read more:

• Housing market in Utah looking better for first-time home buyers, says real-estate agent.
• One realtor sees “signs of hope” in Utah housing market