St George Utah Real Estate Information

Real estate statistics in Southern Utah for 2008

Posted at 4:53 PM, Jan. 15, 2009

In this post I am giving you real estate statistics which compare sales in 2008 with 2007 in the Washington County MLS (which includes a few out of area properties, ie Iron County, Kane County, etc.)

One of the first things that our clients like to know is the absorption rate, or months worth of inventory. At the end of Dec. 2008, there were 36.87 months of inventory on the market. This includes land, condo/townhomes, single family residential, mobile and modular homes, and commercial. What this means is that it would take almost 37 months to sell all of the properties that are on the market, assuming that the same rate of sales continues and no other properties come on the market. (Each price range is a little different, so if you would like to know about a particular price range, please give us a call and we would be glad to look it up for you).

Our current market condition, called a “buyer’s market”, has been in effect in Washington County for more than a year, where the absorption rate in Dec 2007 was 33.42 months, just 3 months less than our current conditions.

Last year there were 1575 single family homes sold compared with 1887 homes sold in 2007. The average sold price in 2008 was $300,888 compared with $338,538 in 2007; the median sold price in 2008 was $250,000 compared with $283,000 in 2007, which represents an 11% decrease overall.

The sales of subdivided lots, declined by 49% from 2007 to 2008. and the average price was 20% less in 2008.

The sales of freestanding townhomes was hit pretty hard last year. There was a 35% decline in sales and a 45% decrease in sales price over 2007. The average price of a freestanding townhome in 2007 was $354,027 and was $186,392 in 2008.

The new construction market was the hardest hit last year. There were only 10 sales in 2008 compared with 45 in 2007 which is a 77% drop in sales.

While this market is not good if you are trying to sell, it is great if you are in the market to buy. There is an abundance of inventory to choose from, the prices haven’t been this low in over a decade and the interest rates are the lowest in 35 years. But you’d better not wait as we are starting to see a shortage of homes priced under $250,000.

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