Is Salt Lake County a Buyer's or Seller's Market?

It is a balanced market overall, sitting close to the seller's side. Salt Lake County has 3.2 months of supply for single-family homes, inside the 3 to 6 month range that counts as balanced. The exception is the bottom of the market: homes under $500,000 have only 2.4 months of supply, which is still a seller's market. Nothing in the county has tipped to buyers, though $1 million and up comes closest at 3.9 months.

Six months or more of inventory is a buyer's market. Three months or less is a seller's market, and anything in between is balanced or neutral. Agents draw the middle lines a little differently, with some using four or five months as the seller's cutoff, but six months is the widely used dividing line for a buyer's market and comes from the National Association of Realtors.

They are two views of the same math. Absorption rate is the share of the homes for sale that sell during a stated period of time, so the period always has to be named: the same market gives one number over a month and a very different one over a quarter or a year. This page states it monthly. Salt Lake County single-family listings are being absorbed at 30.9% per month, and months of supply, also called months of inventory, expresses that same pace as time rather than a percentage: 3.2 months to sell every home now listed.

Yes, and it is the only price range in Salt Lake County that still qualifies. Homes under $500,000 have 2.4 months of supply against a 3 month cutoff. About 41.4% of those listings sell every month, roughly 166 homes, and only 400 are on the market at any given time. Buyers in this range should be fully approved before they tour and should expect competition on well-priced homes.

Yes, relatively. Homes at $1 million and up have 3.9 months of supply, the most of any range and the closest to a buyer's market. This range holds 22% of the homes for sale but only 18% of the sales. It is balanced rather than a buyer's market, but it is where buyers have the most room to negotiate on price and terms.

On some homes, mostly under $500,000, where supply is thinnest. A home that is priced at the market and ready to move into can still draw more than one offer. It is far from universal, though. Even in a seller's market, an overpriced home usually gets no offers at all, which is why price reductions and bidding wars both happen in the same market.

It depends on the price range and on the individual listing. From $500,000 up the market is balanced, so buyers regularly negotiate on price, seller-paid closing costs, an interest rate buydown or repairs. Under $500,000 a low offer rarely works on a fresh listing. In any range, the leverage is on homes that have been sitting or have already cut their price.

Months of supply does not forecast prices, but it shows where downward pressure would come from, and it is not showing up yet. Prices tend to soften when supply holds at 6 months or more. Salt Lake County is at 3.2 months countywide and the loosest price range is 3.9 months. Individual overpriced listings still sell for less than asking, but that is a pricing problem, not a market-wide drop.

The choice buyers get depends on their price range. Under $500,000 supply is still thin, so waiting has not produced more leverage there. From $500,000 up the market has already moved to balanced, which is where the negotiating room is. The more useful questions are whether the monthly payment works on your income, whether you have the down payment, and whether you plan to stay long enough, usually at least three to five years, to cover the cost of buying and selling.

For most single-family homeowners, yes. No price range has tipped to buyers, which means demand is still keeping up with the homes for sale. Under $500,000 the market is strongest and still favors sellers outright. From $500,000 up it is balanced, so you are being compared against other homes. Above $1 million, plan on a longer timeline and some negotiation. In every range, overpricing is the single most common reason a home sits.

Months of supply is an average across hundreds of homes, and averages hide the split. Homes priced at recent comparable sales that show well tend to sell quickly, while homes priced above the comps sit no matter what the countywide number says. If a home has been listed for weeks without offers, the price is usually the cause, not the market.

Considerably. Countywide numbers blend Salt Lake City, Sandy, West Jordan, Draper, Holladay, West Valley City and everywhere else, and each has its own supply picture and its own mix of price ranges. A $700,000 home is entry level in one part of the county and near the top of the market in another. Months of supply for your city and your price range is a more useful number than the county figure.

No. Every figure on this page is single-family homes only. Condos and townhomes are a separate market with their own supply and demand, and they have generally been absorbing more slowly than single-family homes. Blending them together would make the single-family market look softer than it is.

The numbers come from the Wasatch Front Regional MLS (UtahRealEstate.com), covering Salt Lake County single-family homes. Sales are closed sales from the trailing 90 days and homes for sale are active listings as of the date shown. The page is updated monthly. The analysis is by Aaron Peters, a Utah associate broker licensed since 2006 and the owner of DiscountAgent.com.