Utah ranked as the 2024’s ninth-most-expensive housing market

In 2024, Utah continued to endure high but stable housing costs, according the 2024-25 edition of the “State of the State’s Housing Market” report, an annual update from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. 

The report found Utah ranked as the country’s ninth-most-expensive housing market in 2024. However, stable prices — also a characteristic of the state’s market — offered little relief to potential homebuyers as high interest rates combined with elevated housing prices to exclude many households from homeownership.

“Utah housing prices and rents showed little to no growth in 2024,” said Jim Wood, Ivory-Boyer senior fellow at the Gardner Institute and lead author of the report. “Home sales and listings increased, and residential construction declined as apartment developments tumbled. Slower economic growth presented challenges for Utah’s homebuilding and real estate industries but helped to dampen price increases for potential homebuyers.”

Home prices in Utah have increased less than 1 percent since 2022; however, the state still ranks among the country’s most expensive housing markets. The median sales price of a single-family home statewide was $547,700 in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the study.

Rental rates also showed little change in 2024 and declined in some submarkets. The average rental rate (composite of all unit types) in Salt Lake County increased from $1,582 in 2023 to $1,593 in 2024, less than a 1 percent increase.

The study cited the “median multiple ratio,” which measures the severity of housing affordability by dividing the median sales price of a home by the median household income. The 2024 median multiple ratios show Washington and Salt Lake counties as severely unaffordable (with ratios above 5.1) and Weber, Davis and Utah counties as seriously unaffordable (with ratios between 4.1 and 5.0).

High-density units (condominiums, townhomes and twin homes) accounted for 28 percent of all existing residential sales and 28 percent of residential construction in 2024. Statewide, the median sales price of a condominium in 2024 ($409,900) was 27 percent below the median price of a single-family home.

Eagle Mountain issued building permits for 1,556 residential units in 2024, the highest level of any Utah city. The second-ranked city, Saratoga Springs, issued permits for 1,354 units, and the fifth-ranked city, Lehi, issued permits for 1,036 units. These three northern Utah County cities accounted for 18 percent of the residential units receiving building permits statewide in 2024.

The report also found that a larger number of sellers entered Utah’s market in 2024 as average monthly listings returned to pre-COVID levels (8,000 to 9,000 active listings). Home sales also received a boost from cash buyers who were not deterred by high mortgage rates. Nearly 18 percent of all home sales in Utah were cash purchases in 2024 (6,724 homes). Sales statewide reached 37,641 homes, up 7 percent in 2024.

Looking ahead, economic uncertainty and slower rates of demographic and economic growth will hinder housing demand in 2025, according to study authors. Residential construction, existing home sales, housing prices and mortgage rates will continue at near the same levels as 2024. Projections include approximately 23,000 new residential units, 36,900 sales of existing homes, a 2 percent increase in the median sales price of a home, and mortgage rates fluctuating in a narrow range of 6 percent to 7 percent.

The full report is now available at https://d36oiwf74r1rap.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/State-Of-State-Housing-Jul2025.pdf.