The quick and dirty for stats and sales.

The Utah real estate market values and sales activity can regularly be tracked by a simple key indicator….4th quarter sales. In 2013 the 4th quarter sales for Utah County were 1,500 closed home sales and in Salt Lake County were 8087 closed home sales. In 2014, Utah county closed 1722 home sales for an increase of 14.8% and Salt Lake County closed 8807 for an increase of 8.9% over the last year. This trend is a direct correlation to our valuation of properties and thus the market in 2015 should be a solid year for appreciation of no less than 5% and most likely closer to 10% in some of the strongest neighborhood markets.

What does this mean to you as an investor?

When market values go up for real estate this automatically prices some buyers out of the market. This means that relocating buyers coming into the market may choose to rent instead of buying a home because of the increase in housing prices. With our market attracting more and more out-of-state talent for companies like Adobe, Microsoft, eBay, Novell, Xactware, and many others the trend is catered towards more renters instead of buyers in some markets. Home sales are increasing and driving prices up, but the amount of growth in population is far exceeding these numbers as the Utah Population Report shows.

In rental communities throughout the Wasatch Front, it has been common to see a new project go from 0% occupancy to 96% occupancy within 6 months of completion and the vacancy rate throughout the Wasatch Front continues to remain at close to 3% accounting for renters moving in and out. (ie-a rental for rent is a rental rented if priced within market reason).

So pony up investors and buy more real estate….the demand from renters won’t slow down anytime soon.