By Joe Belnap
Three Utah cities cracked the top 10 of the most overpriced housing markets in the entire United States: Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden.
Using decades of data from Zillow, two researchers at Florida Atlantic University calculated that home buyers of those cities are paying on average 44% more than current housing price trends estimate.
“The interest rates are still low but our prices have gone up and so it’s going to be tougher in the the lower price ranges,” President of Utah Central Association of Realtors, Andrew Ford, said.
So why are prices so high? “It’s supply and demand,” Utah realtor Eugenia Williams-Taotua said. The supply of homes is not keeping up with the demand.
“We have about a one month supply of inventory right now and to have a balanced market between buyers and sellers, you need about a six month inventory,” Ford said.
“Sellers started realizing that they have the upper hand in this… the buyers were at their mercy,” Williams-Taotua said.
According to the U.S. Census, Utah is the fastest growing state. “We’ve had so many people not only moving to Utah with job creation, we have a lot of people who stay here,” Ford said.
Homeowners looking to sell, like Roy Angel, are cashing in. “The market was so hot and we could get out and make enough money to get rid of all of our debt,” Angel said.
They bought their home in 2018 for $318,000 and sold it for nearly double that. “Almost 100% in profit in the sale of our home,” Angel said.
On the flip side, homebuyers have a rough road ahead of them. Madeleine Rasmusen just bought a new home. “We put about 15 offers on houses before one stuck,” Rasmusen said.
Rasumusen wanted to buy in the Provo area, “but it wasn’t an option because the prices were just so high.” Instead, she looked elsewhere. “Eagle mountain is a little bit less pricey because it’s a newer development,” Rasumsen said.
If you’re looking to buy a home, you might want to check out cities like Eagle Mountain or Vineyard where they are building new homes every day.
