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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Dream Building / Davis, Weber home prices bucking trend
By Jeff DeMossOGDEN -- Sales of existing homes in the Top of Utah remained sluggish in October, but new reports suggest the region will sidestep the steep price drops that many markets around the country have suffered recently.
The Weber/North Davis Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that the average selling price last month was up nearly 2 percent in Weber County and more than 4 percent in Davis County compared to October 2007.
Overall, sales were down by double-digit amounts in both counties, but local Realtors take the sustained price gains as an encouraging sign.
"Prices are staying up, I think mainly because houses in the middle-range or average price range are selling strong," said Randy Benoit, associate broker with Prudential Utah Real Estate in Layton.
"The number count is being bolstered by first-time homebuyers. A tremendous amount of people are taking advantage of that $7,500 tax credit."
Sales of more expensive homes are very slow, but Benoit said there are some "crazy, crazy deals out there," such as a home in east Layton listed at $1.25 million a year ago that recently hit the market with a $550,000 price tag.
Separately, a Tuesday report from the research firm First American CoreLogic found that home prices were up slightly during September in the Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area, which encompasses Weber, Davis and Morgan counties.
The local picture stands in contrast to the national picture, according to Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American, which reported an 11.2 percent price drop nationwide in September.
Mark Fleming, the firm's chief economist, said the real estate market is in a wait-and-see mode while the federal government wrestles with the crisis in financial markets.
"The stabilization of house price trends in volatile markets is encouraging, but the impact of the economic instability remains to be seen over the coming months," Fleming said.
Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors reported a 4.6 percent drop nationwide in existing home sales for October and said the national median home price tumbled 11 percent to $183,300 during the month.
In a third report released Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said changes in Utah prices varied considerably by region during the third quarter.
The agency reported a 4.6 percent annual jump in prices in the Logan area, which it said had the eighth-fastest home appreciation rate in the country.
The Ogden-Clearfield area showed a modest 0.4 percent decline in overall prices. Salt Lake City prices declined 1.8 percent, while prices in the Provo-Orem area fell 3.1 percent.
St. George, which is more closely tied to the struggling Las Vegas market, saw prices fall 8.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2007.
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