Recently we've received questions from clients wanting to sell because of the election. We're breaking down the factors surrounding our market that should really impact your decision to sell your house.
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We've received a lot of questions lately about the election. Here at Utah Cribs, we sell real estate — we never talk politics. However, one day, we had four different people email us who were thinking about selling their property and were wondering if the election would have an effect on the real estate market.
No one has a crystal ball, but I can give you some facts that back up the answer that I gave these clients.
For starters, we've seen three years of rapid appreciation of single-family homes here in Salt Lake. When the market bottomed out in 2008, the decline lasted until 2012. Now, though, we've bounced out of the recession; Utah was a national leader in single-family home appreciation. It only took nine quarters for us to get back to a median price and all-time high that was set prior to the recession.
So what has happened over these last three years?
As appreciation rose by double digits, home values went up, and we had low inventory. It has been a pretty extreme seller's market. Many brokers are still talking about this, but it is old news. The sky is not falling, but the market has started to slow. We're not so sure that the election is the cause.
Here are the facts:
One year ago, the median price for a single-family home in Salt Lake County was $280,000, and currently, the median price is $301,000. This means home values have gone up nearly 7% in the past year, which is still rapid appreciation, but it's not as strong as we saw from 2012 to 2013 or even 2013 to 2014. Right now, it really depends on price.
As I told one of the clients who asked about the election, the price range in which you're looking has a big impact. For example, single-family homes priced $400,000 and under are still selling strong; median days on market is still just 14 days. The appreciation for homes in that price range has gone up nearly 10% over the last year. On the other hand, homes priced $700,000 and over have only appreciated just 3.4% over the past year with an average of 82 days on market. Simply put, the "hotness" of your home and its appreciation really depends on the price bracket that it's in.
The sky is not falling; the market is just slowing down.
We can also look to units sold to see that the market is slowing. In the third quarter last year, 4,957 single-family homes sold in Salt Lake County. In the third quarter of this year, 4,915 sold. I know this is a tiny difference, but it's a downturn. We haven't seen a quarterly downturn in units sold in Salt Lake County in three years.
To reiterate, the sky is not falling and it's not even a market correction. However, there is a slowdown, and I feel that this year it's more significant that a normal seasonal slowdown. It could be the election and it could be buyers holding their breath to see the results. Think about the big picture, though; should you sell your house because of the results of a presidential election?
In our professional opinion, the answer is no.
If that's your only reason to sell, I say forget about it. If you sold right now, what else are you going to go buy? If after the election perhaps we see some median price downturn, your house will decrease in value, but whatever else you're going to buy will go down in the same percentage brackets. It's a wash! Don't just sell or get scared because of what could happen nationally.
Here in Utah, we're still in an extremely strong market. There are a lot of microeconomic factors in our market that are among the best in the nation. Make your decision based on facts!
