Record-breaking price increases characterize Utah's 2021 housing market

The 2021 Salt Lake City and Utah housing markets will be long remembered for their record-breaking price increases, according to a new report by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors.

The most stunning statistic from the report found the income required to buy the median-priced home in Salt Lake County increased from $58,100 to $101,400 from 2015 to 2021.

In Salt Lake County, the median price of all homes sold in 2021 climbed to $460,000, a 22 percent increase compared to a median price of $378,250 in 2020. The median price of single-family homes sold in 2021 soared to $533,000, up 25 percent compared to a median price of $425,000 in 2020.

Statewide, housing prices increased by 27 percent, shattering the 43-year-old record of 20.1 percent set in 1978. Record price increases were not confined to Wasatch Front counties; nearly every county in the state saw record increases. Twenty-four of Utah’s 29 counties had double-digit gains. In 2021, Utah’s 700,000 homeowners realized an increase in the home equity (wealth) of at least $82 billion.

Nationally, the Salt Lake City metropolitan area ranked No. 6 in highest home price increases among the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas (12 months through Quarter 3 2021), according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Housing prices in the Salt Lake metropolitan area are now higher than 87 percent of all major U.S. metropolitan areas.

The report found no sign yet of a slowdown. For the past nine months, prices have consistently increased at over 20 percent, when compared to the same month a year earlier. In December, prices were up 24 percent year-over-year, just slightly below the largest gain of 27 percent in June.

Report authors also found no sign of a housing bubble, despite the soaring price increases. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, Utah housing prices fell by 15.6 percent. This is the only instance in the past 75 years of housing history when price declines lasted more than a few consecutive quarters. There were two single-year declines during the 1950s, a single-year decline in the 1960s and a few consecutive quarters in 1983 and 1987–1988.

“In 2022, home prices will experience another year of double-digit increase — count on a 10 percent to 12 percent increase,” the Salt Lake Board of Realtors said. “And finally, two sides of the price coin: Existing homeowners will benefit again from strong price increases, but homeownership for future generations will be challenged, producing greater inequality and diminished wealth for these households.”