Total new-home closings: 2,627
Population: 1,153,340
The good: A steady recovery has taken place since 2011, driven by strong population growth and job increases.
The bad: There were signs of leveling in early 2015.
The bottom line: It stands to be seen whether 2015 marks a year of decline, but a 19% decrease in year-to-date single-family permits year over year in March may hint at builders’ read on the market.
Since 2011, Salt Lake’s new-home market has enjoyed a strong recovery year after year, driven by job gains, population growth, and a backlog of buyers, but early 2015 statistics show that recovery may be slowing. The market’s heyday arrived in mid-2013, when the region showed serious momentum through 33,300 new jobs registering over a 12-month period and a 29% increase in new-home starts year over year. In the third quarter of 2013, starts registered their highest per any single quarter since 2007. Was that the peak? Possibly. But for the most part, 2014 proved a repeat. In March 2015, however, new-home closings sank by 6.8% year over year, following a 14.9% decline in February, while the average price of new homes rose by 3.0% year-over-year. Whether this marks a turning point remains to be seen.
