A quarterly report from Metrostudy, a Salt Lake City-based housing research and analysis firm, has found that Utahns are finding relief from the high cost of housing by purchasing attached homes — those that share property and common walls with other homes. The study found that only 28 percent of new home starts in the first quarter of 2019 were priced under $300,000 and that the bulk of those homes were classified as attached.
According to Metrostudy, annual new home starts were up 2 percent, while starts in the first quarter were down 11 percent from first quarter 2018 levels. Much of the decrease in quarterly starts can be attributed to the decreasing availability of lower-priced homes, MetroStudy said.
According to Metrostudy’s most recent quarterly lot-by-lot survey of every subdivision in the Greater Salt Lake City market, annual new home starts totaled 12,975 as of March, which is a 2 percent increase compared to the annual pace in the same quarter in 2018. Annual new home closings have increased 10 percent compared to this time last year to 12,404, and appear to be climbing.
New home starts for single-family detached product totaled 1,170 during the first quarter, which is down 12 percent compared to last year. Annual starts are nearly unchanged compared to last year at this time for a total of 8,760. New home closings during the first quarter decreased 2 percent to 1,864, while annual closings increased 6 percent compared to last year to 8,485. On a quarterly basis, new home starts during the first quarter of 2019 saw an 11 percent decrease for the quarter and are down 15 percent from last quarter to 2,586.
“While the quarterly numbers may seem alarming, part of the decrease is due to seasonality and another part is due to the decreasing availability of lower- priced homes,” said Eric Allen, regional director of Metrostudy’s Salt Lake market. “Currently, only 28 percent of all new home starts are below $300,000, most of which is for attached product. New home closings during the first quarter totaled 2,776, which is a 10 percent increase over 2018; however, they are down 14 percent from last quarter.”