What I Learned at Breakfast

Wasatch Front Real Estate Podcast with Spencer Janke

Every year, a bunch of us Realtors get together at the Forecast Breakfast. There, Dr. James Wood, an economist who is also an expert on our market, shared his predictions for 2017.

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I recently had the pleasure of attending the Forecast Breakfast. Every year, a bunch of us Realtors get together, including Lawrence Yun from the National Association of Realtors.
Dr. James Wood, one of the foremost economists at the University of Utah, shared his predictions fro the 2017 Utah residential real estate market. He also went over a few important statistics from last year.
We always work hard to give you this kind of information, but sometimes it helps to hear from the experts. Here are some of the highlights from the breakfast:
Dr. Wood said that, for the first time in 40 years, the rise of households in Utah exceeds the number of new housing units. In other words, demand is really outpacing supply.
Dr. Wood also told us that apartment vacancy rates are at the lowest levels they have been in decades despite the historic boom in new construction apartments. Since 2012, we’ve added 20,000 apartment units in Salt Lake, but demand is still outpacing the supply.
With that in mind, Dr. Wood told us, “2016 was the best year for the Salt Lake County housing market in a decade when it comes to the number of sales. In Salt Lake County, just over 13,600 sales occurred.” In 2009, the typical Salt Lake area property sat on the market for an average of 80 days. In 2016, that number dropped to 13 days, which is absolute insanity!

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With market conditions like these, you need to be ready to make your move.

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When it comes to his predictions for 2017, here is a direct quote from Dr. Wood: “We can expect another 5% to 7% increase in pricing . . . These fundamentals combined with exceptionally strong demand, as well evidenced by record low days on market, will push the median sales price of single- family homes to the $310,000 to $315,000 range. It’s currently sitting at $295,000. Condominium sales should be even stronger.”
Dr. Wood continued by saying, “Overall, it’s going to be a tight market for buyers and renters. Prices are not going to come down, interest rates are not going to come down, and availability is not going to improve much. You just have to pull the trigger.”
A lot of the time when we present statistics proving that now is a good time to buy or sell, I do get comments from people who say, “Of course you’d say that; you’re a real estate salesperson!” However, everything I just told you is a direct quote from Dr. James Wood, a foremost economist on our local market.
He is really saying exactly what we would say. If you combine rapidly increasing prices with rising interest rates and super tight inventory, the best deal you will get on a house is on the house you buy the quickest. In Dr. Wood’s words, “You just have to pull the trigger.”
I know that everyone likes to shop around and wait for the right house, but you simply cannot do that in our current market. If you have any other questions about our market or would like to learn more about the buying or selling process, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you.