Average sale prices for single-family homes in Summit and Wasatch counties increased by just 2% in 2022. That’s a major cooldown from the year earlier, when prices shot up 28%.
The number of single-family home sales last year in both counties was down nearly a third, for a total of 936.
Single-family home sales dropped the most in Park City limits, falling by almost half compared to 2021. Sales declined everywhere except in the Jordanelle Reservoir area, where the number of homes sold increased over 75%.
Last year the biggest median price increases were in Jeremy Ranch and the Kamas Valley. The median price for a single-family home in Park City in 2022 was roughly $3.9 million. In the Snyderville Basin it was slightly over $2.1 million, and in Heber it was a little under $1 million.
The explosive growth of the Wasatch Back real estate market in the past two years was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the board of realtors. Due to many employers pivoting to remote online work, people were able to move wherever they wanted — making mountain towns attractive because of their natural assets.
Board of Realtors president Joanne O’Connell said the vacant land market has been the most volatile in that timeframe.
“During COVID, so many people wanted to come here, and there was no inventory, we had no homes," O'Connell said.
"And everyone thought — ‘oh I’m going to come here and build my dream home’ — well of course we all know that contractors and getting someone even to do remodels was hard.
"And so with everyone buying up all the land all over, they pretty quickly figured out it was going to be hard for them to find someone to build a house. So 2022 showed a lot of lots coming back on the market, and the big slowdown in people buying lots. So that market has probably changed the most.”
O'Connell said it’s likely a mix of variables causing the slowdown in the market.
“Some of it is interest rates, some of it is, COVID made everyone say — ‘hey, I want to live in the mountains’ — well that’s leveled off," she said.
"We all know now they’re taking trips to Europe instead of thinking they need to come buy a house in Park City. Also, if you look at that a lot of the employers are saying ‘well maybe we don’t want you to work remotely, we want you to come back to the office.’ So some people are kind of dragging their feet on that.
"So it’s so many factors, it’s hard to say we’re going to blame it on this.”
Mortgage rates peaked late last year but have since declined slightly. Board of Realtors CEO Jamie Johnson said rates don't impact their market as much, because the Wasatch Back tends to attract all-cash offers.
O’Connell added the board expects sales to be slower the next few years, given the recent rush of buyers and inventory that remains below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
“So if you look at COVID, and how many people bought during that two-and-a-half year period, we took the number of people that wanted ultimately to be in Park City, and we pushed them all into those two-and-a-half years.
"So people who have been saying for ten years, ‘yeah I want to buy a place in Park City some day’ — well they all bought. So we’re going to have less buyers in the next couple years.”
Looking ahead to 2023, Johnson said to expect a lot of action in the Heber Valley, where many new developments are set to come on the market.
The full Park City Board of Realtors end-of-year report can be found here.