Developer to turn Kaysville farmland into 300 homes

Residential homebuilder and Destination Homes President Brad Wilson plans to develop 83 acres of
farmland owned by the Hill family and turn it into a new neighborhood on the west side of Kaysville.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported a 7 percent increase in housing starts nationwide in April — the fastest growth rate since the 2008 recession.

Doris Giede-Stevenson, chairwoman of Weber State University's economics department, said housing
prices are still 30 percent below the peak nationwide, and the current demand and rising prices may be reminiscent of the housing bubble that led into the recession.

She said the increased building, buying and selling are positive signs. Deseret News

2012 home sales jumped in Weber and Davis counties

2012 saw big increases in home closures for both Davis and Weber counties, according to year-end data released by the Utah Association of Realtors.

Sales in Davis County were up 21.6 percent from 2011 (3,042 to 3,699), while Weber County saw a 20.8 percent increase in home sales.

Closed sales in Weber County jumped from 2,587 in 2011 to 3,125 in 2012, while the average sales price of those homes rose from $155,157 to $161,150.

Davis County’s average sales prices increased from $213,873 to $216,246.

In addition to the sales increase, Christy Vail, president of the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors pointed out that pending sales were also up 23 percent in Weber County and 22.9 percent in Davis County.

Homes also spent less time on the market in 2012 before being sold.

“We saw a decrease of 15 days in the time it took to get those homes sold in Davis,” Vail said. “This is encouraging because it’s a great indicator of confidence in our Utah market, and for the potential seller looking to 'move up' it indicates their existing value is increasing.”

Overall, Utah saw a 12.4 percent increase in homes sales (32,646 to 36,699 homes sold) while the average home price rose from $173,500 to $180,000. Utah Business

Even as home prices, sales rise, Wasatch Front listings at 15-year low

The number of homes along the Wasatch Front listed for sale was at a 15-year low at the end of 2012, even as prices rose steadily through most of the year and sales gained ground.

The scarcity of homes on the market underlines the severity of the housing market’s collapse in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties, as well as many Utahns’ uncertainty about the pace of the recovery, real estate experts say.

Listings peaked in the fourth quarter of 2007 at 14,683 homes, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, which cited figures compiled by the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service. By the end of last year, that number had been cut to 7,229 —the lowest count since the fourth quarter of 1997, when 5,767 homes were on the market.

Myriad reasons are offered why sellers are holding back, even as demand for homes rises. Some say the 6 percent gain in the median price of a single-family home in Salt Lake County last year wasn’t enough to offset the sharpest decline in values since World War II.

"Prices dropped by 25 percent in Salt Lake County. So a [6 percent increase] is good news. But it’s not enough to motivate me to put my house on the market right now," said Jim Wood, director of the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

Like other experts, Wood believes the number of listings probably won’t fall further in 2013. Still, many potential sellers are more likely than not to stay on the sidelines until values rise further, he said.


Home sales in Salt Lake County jumped 15 percent last year, to 10,870 units from 9,452 in 2011. The gain was on top of a double-digit rise over 2010. Dave Frederickson, president of the Board of of Realtors, said worries that record low interest rates might rise soon is driving many buyers to snap up properties on the market —so much so that bidding wars have erupted over well-priced homes. And that’s pulled the inventory well under numbers that were typical before the housing bubble formed, he said.

"Interest rates have almost caused a feeding frenzy. It’s not allowing us to build back up supply. I don’t know if a lot of potential sellers out there even know [the housing market] has come back," Frederickson said. "The buyers are catching on to that quicker than the sellers are."

Realtor Adam Kirkham thinks that with prices down 25 percent since 2007, a lot of would-be sellers who bought homes at the height of the market may not have enough equity to sell them at an acceptable profit. Worse, some people might even be upside-down in their mortgages — owing more than their homes are worth. So they won’t —or can’t — put their homes up for sale, he said. Salt Lake Tribune

Housing Report Shows Nation Still Down Over 2008

The housing markets in Utah's most populous counties have endured four challenging years, according to a new report.

Based on five key metrics related to the nation's housing market — average home price, unemployment rate, foreclosure inventory, foreclosure starts and share of distressed sales — the U.S. housing market comes out worse off than it was four years ago, with a several Utah counties hit especially hard.

The 2012 Election Housing Report showed that the average price of a residential property nationwide has decreased 20 percent during the past four years — leaving more than 12 million homeowners owing more than their property is worth, according to RealtyTrac, a market research firm based in Irvine, Calif.

What that numbers don't reflect is the upward trend during the past year in the housing market and the peak periods of foreclosure which kept numbers low during the past few years.

All six Beehive State counties in the report saw unemployment rates nearly double or exceed that amount, from at least 3 percent in 2008 to 6 percent or greater in 2012, while four counties saw the volume of foreclosure starts jump more than double during the period.

But the Utah unemployment rate continues to be better than the national average and the growth in exports also points to an economy on the rebound.

Despite the report's poor numbers, the state's housing market has steadily improved during the past year, and Utah has one of the lowest overall unemployment rates in the country — more than 25 percent below the national rate of 7.8 percent.

Daren Blomquist, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac, said the foreclosure market is improving nationwide, which bodes well for Utah and most other states.

However, the positives of lower foreclosure inventory and fewer foreclosure starts are outweighed by the negatives of lower home prices, higher unemployment and a higher share of distressed sales, the report stated.

Nationwide, in the 919 counties with data available for all five metrics, 580 (65 percent) showed at least three out of the five key metrics worse off than four years ago, while in 315 counties (35 percent) at least three of the five key metrics were better off than four years ago. Deseret News

Salt Lake City, Ogden housing market warming up

Homes in the Salt Lake-Ogden metropolitan area are selling faster, prices are increasing and fewer properties are sitting on the market compared with last year.

Lower inventories, combined with somewhat higher median list prices, suggest that the housing market at the end of the 2012 homebuying season is in better shape than it was a year ago, according to data from a report released Monday by the National Association of Realtors’ website, Realtor.com.

Overall, numbers for Utah’s largest metro area, the only one in the state included in the report, are better
than the national market.

Median prices for homes in Salt Lake City-Ogden hit $214,900 in September — a 7.5 percent jump from a year ago and a 1.37 percent bump from August. The national median price in September was $191,500, a 0.78 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

The rise in the median price locally also was reflected earlier in the summer when a second-quarter report from Realtors in a five-county area along the Wasatch Front showed that prices from Ogden to Provo collectively were up for the first time in five years.

In addition, the median age of inventory in the Salt Lake City-Ogden metro area in September was 67 days, down 22 percent from a year ago. Nationally, the median age of inventory was 95 days, down 11.2 percent. Salt Lake Tribune

Sandy real estate firm adds 90 more agents

Coldwell Banker Residential Mortgage has hired more than 90 real estate agents this year, a sign that the housing market along the Wasatch Front is healing.

The hiring surge puts the Sandy-based company’s 11 offices in a better position to meet increasing demand for brokerage services from home buyers and sellers, Coldwell Banker said Thursday. Unit sales brokered by the agency were up 12 percent through July compared to the same time last year.

In all, the offices have added 96 agents, bringing the company’s staff to more than 700 people. Many of the hires were experienced agents who moved from rival real estate firms. Others returned to the industry after sitting out the housing downturn, Coldwell Banker President Chris Jensen said.

Real estate agents typically are independent contractors who work on commission. After the housing market imploded in late 2006, hundreds of agents left the business. With home sales rising again, agents are starting to come back to work, Jensen said. Salt Lake Tribune

Affordability the byword for this year’s Salt Lake Parade of Homes

This year’s Salt Lake Parade of Homes is a long-awaited celebration of the return of the homebuyer.

Five years after the housing market along the Wasatch Front went bust, sales of new homes are slowly on the rebound.

"With lower prices and 3½ to 4 percent mortgage rates, people are seeing that they can get more home than they could before," said Paul Peterson, executive officer with the Salt Lake Home Builders Association. "It’s brought affordability back."

In 2007, at the height of the market, builders took out permits for the construction of more than 7,200 homes along the Wasatch Front from January through July. By 2008, building activity plummeted to about 2,600 permits in that same period.

This year, builders took out 3,788 permits in that time frame — a five year high that’s up 28 percent from during the same period last year. Salt Lake Tribune

Foreclosure rates drop in Utah's large metros

The number of properties falling into foreclosure is dropping dramatically, a new report indicates.

The RealtyTrac Q1 2012 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report showed the rate of first quarter foreclosure activity in the state's most populous metropolitan statistical areas declined at least 22 percent from the last quarter of 2011, and at least 42 percent from the same period last year.

The Salt Lake City metro area reported a rate of foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — of 1 in every 163 households, putting the state capital at No. 47 nationally. The rate decreased 22 percent from fourth quarter 2011, and nearly 49 percent from first quarter 2011.

The Provo-Orem area ranked No. 52, with 1 in every 174 households reporting a filing — down more than 25 percent from last quarter and 42 percent year over year.

The Clearfield-Ogden area, which ranks No. 117, reported a filing in one of every 330 households — down more than 26 percent from the previous three-month period and a decrease of almost 56 percent year over year.

The nationwide average was 1 in every 230 households — a decline of 2.25 percent from fourth quarter 2011 and down just under 16 percent from the same period last year. Deseret News

Foreclosure Rates

I've had a couple of questions lately about where to find foreclosure rates by county. Without paying for information, county-level foreclosure rates are hard to find and when you can find them, the numbers are old (HUD foreclosure rates, 2008; New York Federal Reserve Bank, Third Quarter 2010). Some private entities (such as Realty Trac) publish limited free foreclosure information. However, they don't publish their methodology and an analysis of their figures suggest they may leave something to be desired.

However, for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), I have found what looks to be some decent free and relatively up-to-date foreclosure data. This analysis of LPS Applied Analytics Data by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is well documented and on-going. And, their methodology is available so the data-user can understand the data itself. You can access their data by clicking here.

I've also thrown together some visualizations of their foreclosure data below. First some definitions:

Foreclosure Rate: Percent of all mortgages in the foreclosure inventory in the reference month.  Mortgages in the foreclosure inventory include those in foreclosure and bankruptcy foreclosures prior to auction or trustee sale.

Prime Foreclosure Rate: Percent of all prime mortgages in the foreclosure inventory in the reference month.  Prime mortgages are those that are Grade A, not a government product or government-insured, and either with 1) credit scores over 720 or 2) credit scores are from 680-719 with full documentation.

Subprime Foreclosure Rate: Percent of all subprime mortgages in the foreclosure inventory in the reference month. Subprime mortgages are those that a servicer coded as subprime or loans made to borrowers with FICO scores below 620 who did not receive a government, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan.

Serious Delinquency Rate: Percent of all mortgages either 90 or more days delinquent or in the foreclosure inventory in the reference month.

90+ Delinquency Rate: Percent of all mortgages 90 or more days delinquent and have not yet entered into judicial or non-judicial foreclosure in the reference month.

Not surprisingly, Utah's poster child for the housing bubble, the St. George, UT MSA (Washington County), shows the rates for most worst measures. On the other hand, it still ranks far below some of the worst MSAs (many in Florida and also nearby Las Vegas). In June 2011, Washington County's foreclosure rate ranking measured 146 and its serious delinquency rate measured 130. The Salt Lake City MSA showed the next Utah highest rankings, while the Logan, UT-ID MSA showed the lowest foreclosure rankings. Hmmm. . .Utah MSAs with the most bubble-like increases in home prices (see the previous post) also show the highest foreclosure rates. While the MSA in Utah with the smallest home-price acceleration during the boom (Logan, UT-ID MSA) shows the lowest foreclosure ranking in Utah. Coincidence? I think not.

You'll also notice that all the Utah MSAs show a decline in serious delinquency rates since the national peak in foreclosures in December 2009. In this case, the St. George, UT MSA has shown the most improvement.

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Utah home sales up for 8th straight month, report states

Utah home sales climbed for the eighth consecutive month in January, up more than 6 percent from a year ago, according to a new report from the Utah Association of Realtors. UAR reported that 120 more homes sold this year than in January 2011, closing 1,985 transactions — the highest total in five years. Activity was especially strong in Salt Lake, Uintah and Davis counties, where sales were up 30 percent, 29 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Deseret News

Bountiful gives preliminary OK to subdivision

A 12-lot subdivision project on the south side of 400 North Street and about 600 East has been given preliminary approval by the city council. The project is being pushed by Brighton Homes on property currently occupied by a couple of buildings, which will be demolished to make room for the new development.

The property is approximately 3.9 acres and is in an R-4 zone, which allows up to four units per acre. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Building of townhomes to begin in Pleasant View

By a 3-2 vote, the city council has approved the site plan for The Cove at Pleasant View subdivision, which will be built between 2700 North and 2550 North and just east of 450 West. The developer said he has the financing to begin building townhomes now. The project will eventually have 50 townhomes, with 135 apartments in a separate area. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Hill AFB completes major base housing project

A $105 million project to upgrade hundreds of outdated homes at Hill Air Force Base is now complete. Air Force officials on Thursday held a ceremony celebrating 576 homes that have been renovated and 437 new homes that have been built since the project launched in September 2005. Salt Lake Tribune

Building to begin soon in Ogden River Project

After nearly a decade of waiting, a Bluffdale firm is poised to begin building townhomes next month as part of the Ogden River Project. The Ogden Redevelopment Agency, made up of the city council, will convey to SouthRiver LLC about 6.1 acres valued at $1.3 million. The land is east of Grant Avenue between 20th Street and Park Boulevard. The agreement calls for the construction of 69 townhomes on about 4 acres. Built on the remaining 2.1 acres will be 125 apartment units and 25,000 square feet of retail space. The entire project is slated to be completed by the end of 2014, said Brandon Cooper, a senior development coordinator for the city. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Northern Utah home prices decline as inventory shrinks, report finds

Home sales prices declined and inventory levels shrank in Davis, Weber and Morgan counties, bowing to a soft market, according to a new report from the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors comparing data for April 2011 and 2010.

The median sales price for Davis County homes in April, the most current month for which figures are available, was $179,000, down 10.1 percent from the same time last year. The median sales price for Morgan County was $220,000, a reduction of 20 percent, and $135,000 in Weber County, a drop of 11.5 percent from April 2010, the report states. Overall, the median sales price for homes in Utah was $170,481 in April, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the year previous, the report states. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Layton awards more housing permits

This could be a great year for building homes in Layton. Since reaching "rock bottom" single-family house permit numbers in 2008, including a month where no permits were issued, Layton has continued to issue more permits each year. City officials expect that number to increase again this year. Layton issued 149 single-family home permits in 2010, which was up from 105 permits in 2009. Having already issued 66 permits this year, the city has received several applications in the past two weeks. Ogden Standard Examiner

Increase in share of homes being rented in 10 Utah cities

Ten Utah communities showed an increase in the share of homes being rented rather than owned, part of a national trend identified through a new USA Today analysis of census data.The national newspaper's analysis published Tuesday found more than 500 midsize and large cities throughout the county saw a boost in home rentals between the 2000 and 2010 census counts.

The percentage of occupied homes that are rented went from just under 34 percent in 2000 to nearly 35 percent in 2010, the newspaper found, with Florida, California and Arizona having the most cities where the share of rented homes grew by at least 5 percentage points.

In Utah, South Jordan saw the biggest boost in homes rented, from just over 10 percent in 2000 to more than 15 percent in 2010, USA Today reported, with West Jordan, Orem and Sandy all increasing more than 4 percent. Deseret News

Note: This analysis should come as no surprise. In 2000, the country was NOT in the midst of a collapsing housing bubble. In 2010, it was. Foreclosure, credit, and unemployment problems all contribute to the likelihood that people will rent rather than own. The current situation should certainly not be seen as a long term trend--at least until more data is available. Fortunately, the American Community Survey provides yearly housing updates, so tracking the trends will be easy.

Wasatch Front existing home sales, prices still down

In Salt Lake County, 1,806 existing single-family homes were sold in the first quarter of the year, down just under 1 percent from 1,819 in the same quarter a year ago, the Salt Lake Board of Realtors reported Tuesday. The median selling price in the January-March period was $200,000, down nearly 8 percent from the same three-month period in 2010.

Prices also were down year-over-year in Davis, Utah, Weber and Tooele counties, between about 5 percent and nearly 12 percent.

Realtors attribute the declines over the past year to the expiration of the federal home-buying tax credit, which boosted sales in last year’s first quarter, only to cause a drop off in sales after the credit expired in April 2010.

Bountiful OKs hybrid development

The Bountiful city council has given the green light to a hybrid development of 22 townhomes and 48 garden apartments, on 4.2 acres of property immediately north of the city cemetery.The city council unanimously granted preliminary approval of the Huntington Apartments and Townhomes multifamily site plan at approximately 1995 S. Main St. and 1990 South. Standard-Examiner

Home prices hit post-bust lows in most big cities

Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index fell in December from November in all but one of the 20 cities it tracks. The 20-city index declined 1 percent.

The only market to see a gain was Washington, D.C. Along Utah’s Wasatch Front, according to a Jan. 27 report, the residential real estate market, mired in one of the worst downturns ever, is showing a few signs of improvement.

In Salt Lake County, 1,934 existing single-family homes were sold in the fourth quarter of 2010, down 21 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. The median selling price was $215,000, down 4.4 percent from the same three-month period in 2009 and off a peak of $256,000 in the summer of 2007. Salt Lake Tribune

Note: The Federal Housing Finance Agency also publishes the Housing Price Index for all Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The following chart shows the year-to-year change in the index for Utah MSAs. The most current index is for third quarter 2010. A bottom to housing prices according to this chart would occur when the year-to-year is equal to zero. At this point, the Logan, UT MSA is closest to a bottoming in prices, followed by the Ogden-Clearfield MSA. Not surprisingly, these two areas experienced the lowest level of speculation in the housing market. You can access this information at: http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=14