SALT LAKE CITY -- Want to buy a house or sell yours? Now is the time to strike!
Real Estate Researcher Zillow predicts Salt Lake City will be the hottest housing market nationwide in 2014, and the market has certainly come a long way since the 2008 recession.
"There's no comparison," said Candice Evans, who is a Hard Rock Homes real estate agent.
The Salt Lake Board of Realtors reports 15,000 homes were sold in Salt Lake County in 2013, which are the best results in the last seven years.
"Nine months ago we were booming,” Evans said. “In August, Hard Rock Homes had just 29 homes under construction in just that one month, and we're just a small local builder."
Zillow said Salt Lake will be America’s hottest market next year because of our lower than average unemployment rate, plus population and home value increases of 2 percent or more.
"I think there's a lot of accuracy in the report," said Dave Frederickson, who is the president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. "There's a lot of jobs coming and a lot of activity and positive buzz about the state of Utah. Even today, Hill Air Force Base landed a contract which will bring more people into the state."
It's not, "if you build it they will come." They are already en route.
"I would say 76 percent of our clients right now are moving to Salt Lake City from all across the country," Evans said.
Zillow said home values rose 5 percent nationwide in 2013. The researcher predicts it'll rise another 3 percent next year, and, despite talk of interest rates rising to possibly 5 percent , "we're still points and points below average," Evans said.
Some real estate agents said it’s both a buyer’s and seller’s market. Others say with about a 3 month housing supply, the market leans in the seller’s favor. With a limited housing supply and so much demand, homeowners can sell their houses on average in less than 4 months and some are selling in just a few weeks.
