Logan Utah Real Estate Market Conditions

Rough Start for 2012 Logan Real Estate

2012-02-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

As I ran the monthly sales stats this morning I was shocked at just how low the monthly home sales were for Logan Real Estate during January. Over the last few months, things looked like the real estate market had really turned a corner. It looked as if the days of super low monthly home sales were behind us. Unless January was a statistical aberration, I was wrong.

January tied for the single lowest monthly home sales in the last decade. There were just 39 residential homes that sold in Cache County during January, the same as January of 2010.

The good news is that despite the low home sales numbers, real estate inventory is lower than it was last month. Right now Cache County has 570 homes for sale. This is six less than at this time a month ago. However, this is the time of year where we usually see an increase in new listings as people begin preparing their homes for spring selling.

February appears as if it will be better for home sales. Right now there are 112 under contract homes. If half of these properties close during February, we will see nearly 65 home sales for the month.

Home prices continue to drop. During January the homes that sold had an average sales price of just $69.64 per square foot. This is the lowest per foot price since 2005.

While 2012 started out slow for Logan Utah Real Estate sales, I fully expect 2012 to be a better year for the Cache Valley Real Estate market.

Future for Logan Real Estate Looking Bright

2012-01-06T15:30:00.001-08:00

Things are looking bright for the future of Logan Utah Real Estate. It was the best December for home sales in four years and real estate inventory is at its lowest point since March of 2008. It really looks like we have seen the worst of the housing market crash and things are really starting to rebound.

December Home Sales

As recorded on the Utah MLS last month, 69 Cache County Homes sold. This is up 4.35% from last month, and 5.8% from December of a year ago.

Under Contract Listings

Right now there are 98 pending home sales, or under contract homes in Cache County Utah. While this is lower than we have seen in the past few months, It is up substantially from January of last year when there were just 70 homes under contract.

Cache County Real Estate Inventory

Real Estate Inventory is the lowest its been in years. When the number of homes for sale goes down, competition for homes increases, which drives prices up. If the number of new home listings continues to drop at this rate, we may even see a buyers market in 2012. There are just 576 Cache County Homes for Sale right now.

The current indicators of the Logan Real Estate market indicate that the last few years of a heavy buyers market will end soon. Fortunately, mortgage interest rates are still at all time lows, and housing is currently very affordable. It's a great time to buy real estate in Logan Utah.

Logan Inventory, and Home Prices are Down

2011-12-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

The number of homes for sale in Logan Utah continue to drop.
Right now there ore only 617 listings on the MLS. Real Estate Inventory hasn't been this low since April of 2008.

While real estate inventory is down, so are home prices. During November the average sales price was just $157,299 with a median at $149,650. The list price of the Cache County homes for sale has also declined substantially. The current median price of homes for sale in Cache Valley is $172,900.

The Average price per square foot of Cache County Homes has dropped to $72.4 per square foot.

Home sales during November were better than November of last year. In total, 66 residential homes sold, up 18.18 percent from last year. There are 110 homes currently under contract. A good December could make 2011 home sales stronger than 2010, despite the slow start.

Logan Real Estate Inventory at Lowest Level Since April of 2008

2011-11-04T10:59:00.001-07:00

The number of homes for sale in Logan Utah is at its lowest level since April of 2008. That was

at the height of the real estate boom for Cache Valley when homes prices were rapidly appreciating. It is typical for real estate inventory to decline during the fall and winter months, but inventory hasn't been this low in years. This is great news for people who currently own Logan Real Estate and is a sign that home values should start stabilizing.

As you can see in the chart below, while inventory at the front of the year was at its highest January level ever, it is now well below November levels at any time during the last four years.

While the reduced real estate inventory in Cache County is good news for homeowners, overall home sales also continue improving.

During October, 78 residential homes sold. This is a 42% increase from October of a year ago. This is the fifth straight month where we have seen a year over year increase in home sales. It actually appears that annual home sales will actually be better this year than they were last year.

If these signs towards recovery continue, the current low home prices combined with the all time low mortgage interest rates might make right now the best time to buy ever. Chances are that home prices will continue to drop throughout the winter, home price trends always lag behind sales. But if inventory remains low and demand continues to increase, we will see stable if not rising prices by the latter half of 2012.

More Positive Signs for Logan Real Estate Future

2011-10-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Home sales during September in Cache County were pretty impressive. September was the second best month of the year for total home sales. On an annual basis, they were up 32.18% compared with September of last year, as 87 residential homes sold. This marks the fourth straight month that year over year home sales are up.

October looks like it will also be a fairly strong month for home sales. There are 141 homes under contract right now, last year at this time there were just 99. At last months sales pace, we have just over 8 months of active inventory. This is slightly higher than a balanced market, but compared with what we have seen, this is something to be optimistic about.

The amount of real estate inventory is also down, and HOME PRICES ARE UP. That's right the median and average list price of homes for sale in Cache County Utah is higher than it has been in months. The median list price rose $4,000 to $179,000, while the average list price increased from $218,135 to $223434. Sales prices last month were also up. The average sold price last month was $182,833 while the median sales price was $168,000. August of 2010 was the last time home prices were that high.

Things could change over the winter, but with the way things are looking, it appears as if the Logan Real Estate market has bottomed out and we are near recovery. Real estate inventory is declining, and with 30 year mortgage interest rates hovering around 4%, this could be the best time EVER for buying Cache Valley Real Estate.

Start searching Logan Homes for Sale.

Logan Home Sales Improved: Future Looks Better

2011-09-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Logan Home Sales in August were substantially better than they were during July. There was nearly a 32% increase of home sales as 97 residential homes sold. Home sales were also up by nearly 30% from August of a year ago when just 68 Cache County homes sold.

August homes sales were up, and it appears as if they will continue to increase in the near future. Currently Cache County has 155 homes under contract. At this time a month ago there were 140 pending sales. This is the highest month of pending sales since June of 2010.

The number of Cache County Homes for Sale has also declined. Right now there are just 755 homes for sale compared with 810 at this time last month. Part of that has to do with more homes going under contract and actually selling.

While the current market conditions in no ways indicate that the housing market is out of the woods, these are some positive signs that the downward trends in real estate values are likely to come to and end soon. If you're looking for the best deal possible on Logan Utah Real Estate, it may be wise to start looking for homes for sale now while home prices and interest rates are so low.

Ouch.... Only 66 Cache County Home Sales in July

2011-08-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

What Happened?

July home sales looked really good. It looked like things for Logan Real Estate had started to turn around, it appeared as if home sales would actually pick up, but they didn't. Were people just too busy to buy during July, just coincidence, or is it an indication of lack of confidence in the economy? Historically July is one of the top 3 months for home sales in Cache County.

July was a very poor month for home sales in Cache Valley. There were only 66 homes that actually sold. This is down nearly 40% from last month! On the positive, year over year July home sales were actually improved with last year; but last year was result of the home buyer tax credit hangover.

The good news is that the number of Under Contract homes is up, indicating that future home sales will be better than July. All time low interest rates should help to stimulate some home buying activity, these low interest rates are already making a big impact on the refinance market. Cache County currently has 140 residential properties under contract compared with 124 a month ago.

Home prices in the Cache Valley continue to drop. The median list price of the 810 homes for sale is just $174,900. This is down $5,000 from a month ago. With more than 12 months of current real estate inventory, prices will likely continue to decline.

The low interest rates, low prices, and high selection of available homes for sale make it a great time to buy. To get started, use this link to search Homes for Sale in Logan Utah.

Best Month For Logan Home Sale in a Year

2011-07-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

The monthly home sales numbers for Logan Utah Real Estate during June the best they've been in over a year. As reported from the MLS, 109 residential homes in Cache County have sold. This is the highest single month of home sales since May of 2010 when 114 residential homes sold.

Unfortunately, it looks like this increased home sales trend might not last for too long. Normally, July, August, and September are the best months of the year for number of home sales. Right now there are less homes under contract (124), than there were a month ago (151).

Fewer under contract homes means that there will be less home sales in the future months. The number of homes for sale in Cache County has risen. There are currently 816 MLS home listings compared with 802 a month ago. If inventory continues to rise while home sales don't, home prices will continue to decline.

One interesting thing about June home sales was the increased size of homes sold. The average square footage was more than 2,400 square feet. This is a few hundred square feet bigger than the average home sold a year ago. During June the average sales price of Cache County Homes was $182,079. The median sales price was $160,000.

Year over Year Inventory is Down

2011-06-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

We are seeing more positive signs for the Logan Real Estate Market, the number of homes for sale, the active inventory is down from levels in June of last year as well as June of 2009. There are currently 802 homes for sale in Cache County Utah. At this time a year ago there were 839 MLS listed properties.

The reduced number of homes for sale is one indicator that we have seen a bottom in the market, and that things are starting to improve. This doesn't necessarily mean that home prices wont' drop more, in fact they likely still will, prices almost always lag behind home sales.

For some more positive real estate news, home sales were improved last month compared with April, and the number of homes currently under contract is up from a month ago. May saw 86 residential homes sale, up from just 66 in April. Right now there are 151 under contract properties, up from 148 a month ago. This indicates that June sales will be improved over May.

The homes that sold last month had the highest median and average prices we've seen since January. The Average sales price was $172,430, while the median sales price was $155,950.

This doesn't mean prices are going up, just that there were more expensive homes that sold last month.

Nationwide home prices are now at levels they were in 2002. The housing bubble nationally has completely erased, and then some. However that statistic doesn't really apply to us. This isn't Atlanta Real Estate, this is Cache Valley Real Estate. Our real estate values haven't fallen that far. May's average sales price of $172,430 is at about the average price we saw in the Summer of 2006.

Home Sales Way Down, But Future Should Be Better

2011-05-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

After a fairly strong March, April home sales in Cache County were really pretty dismal. They were down 15% compared with last month, and 32% from April home sales of a year ago. Last year April home sales were higher than normal as result of the Home Buying Tax Credits.

The good news is that May home sales should be much improved. There are now 148 homes under contract. If 70% of these under contract homes close during May, that will represent more than 100 home sales.

Logan Real Estate inventory is also on the rise as home sales are slow and more people are listing their homes now that the weather is actually starting to get nice. There are currently 786 homes for sale in Cache County. This is 12 more listings than at this time a year ago, and eleven months of inventory at Aprils sales pace.

The list price of homes for sale in Cache Valley has remained stable over the last month, but the average sales price during April was abnormally low. The average sales price in April was just $160,756, while the median sales price was just $144,025. Right now the average list price of Cache County Homes is $218,844. Home prices aren't expected to rise anytime soon, as long as the amount of real estate inventory remains this high.

Logan Home Sales UP 44%

2011-04-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

March Home Sales in Cache County did pretty good compared with the last eight months. The 76 residential homes sold was the highest single month we've seen since June of last year. Compared with February, home sales were up by a whopping 44%.

Compared with a year ago, March home sales were actually down slightly. We have to remember that a year ago at this time the home buyer tax credit was just about to expire, so those numbers were artificially high. Overall these home signs are a good sign for the Logan Real Estate market.

While home sales are up, the number of home for sale are as well. The total number of Cache Valley MLS listings has risen to 754 homes for sale, up from 711 last month. At March's sales pace, this gives Cache County a total of 9.92 months of inventory. The good news is that this inventory is down substantially from a year ago when there were 818 residential listings. Inventory is still high, but if home sales continue to increase throughout the summer we will see a decrease in real estate values dropping.

Short Sales Rising as Home Prices Declining

2011-03-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

The number of short sale homes in Logan Utah continues to rise as home prices decline. Nationwide, the average median home sales price is now at 2002 levels, it's not that low in Logan, but over the last three months the median sales price of $156,250 is the lowest Cache County has seen since 2007. The current average list prices are the lowest they've been in even longer.

Cache County currently has 64 short sale listings in Cache Valley, or 8.82% of the 726 Logan MLS listings.

Prices Down, Sales Down for Cache County Real Estate

2011-03-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

Cache County home sales during February weren't exactly great. I thought we were going to see an improvement in home sales during February, but it wasn't the case. Home sales were down 19% compared with February of last year and 8.7% compared with January.

Real estate inventory did see an increase since my last post, but it is still substantially down compared with February of last year. Right now Cache County has 711 MLS homes for sale. This is down by 5.5% compared with last month, and is even less than real estate inventory in March of 2009. Last years inventory may have been artificially high though as many sellers listed their homes early in homes of finding a buyer who was looking to take advantage of the home buyer tax credit. At February's sales pace, the 711 homes for sale gives Cache County 16.9 months of active inventory.

The good news for Logan UT Real Estate is that home sales look like they will improve this month. There are currently 102 home listings under contract. At this time last month, there were only 71 under contract properties. This is the highest monthly total since November.

Of the homes sold during February the median sold price was $158,000 and the average sales price was $167,773. This is down nearly 7 % from a year ago.

Less than 700 Homes for Sale in Cache Valley

2011-02-22T12:23:00.001-08:00

Good news. Real Estate Inventory in Cache Valley Utah continues to drop. There are now just 699 MLS listings in Cache Valley.

This is the lowest Logan real estate inventory levels have been in more than a year. Traditionally, there are more listings at the end of February than the beginning. This year the trend has reversed as at the beginning of the mont there were 704 Logan homes for sale. This is a positive sign that the housing market might return to balanced levels near the end of the year.

The number of listed short sale homes in Cache County has declined one home, but with less homes for sale, the percentage of short sales actually rose. 8.58% of the active home listings are short sales including 29 properties in Logan, and 35 homes in the outlying Cache Valley communities.

January Year Over Year Home Sales Improved

2011-02-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

The Logan Real Estate market is clearly not recovered from the great housing recession yet, but there are some positive signs.

January Home Sales were the best they've been since 2008, and up by 15% from last year. Reported thus far, 46 residential homes in Cache County have been reported as sold.

Logan Real Estate inventory has actually dropped over the last month from 716 listed homes to 714. Typically, the number of homes for sale increases from January to February, this is also a good sign for the real estate market. Although inventory is down from a month ago, there are still 17 more homes for sale in Cache County than there was at this time last year. At January's sales pace this represents 15 months of active inventory, which is quite high.

The list price of real estate in Cache Valley continues to drop. Last month the median price of homes for sale was $179,900. This month that median price is down $5,400 to $174,500.

Short Sales Spike in Logan

2011-01-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

With home prices declining, and more people who bought during the housing boom that need to sell now, the number of short sale homes in Logan, UT is rising.

Over the last month, the percentage of Cache Valley Short Sales rose by 16.4%. There are now 61 homes on the MLS listed as "short sales." As a percentage of total listings, the number of short sale listings has risen to 8.38% of all residential listings.

If more homes don't start selling, and if home prices don't start going up soon the number of foreclosures in Cache Valley will also see increases in the near future.

December Best Month for Logan Home Sales Since August

2011-01-04T11:07:00.001-08:00

There is some good news for the Logan Real Estate market. Home sales were actually improved during December. It was the best month for home sales since August as 64 MLS homes have been reported sold so far.

Some other good news is that inventory is also substantially down. At Decembers home sales pace the 716 active listings represent just over 11 months of active inventory. This inventory is higher than at this time a year ago when there were 687 Cache Valley Homes for Sale.

Real Estate prices in Cache County, Utah continue to decline. The current average list price of homes for sale is $216,103, with a median list price at $179,900. During January of last year the average list price was $238,338, and the median list price was $189,250.

January of 2010 was one of the worst single months for home sales ever. Expected home sales for this month will likely be better than those of a year ago, but should be down from December. There are currently just 70 under contract listings in Cache County at the moment. This is 23 less pending homes than Cache Valley had at this time a month ago.

The time is still ripe to get great home deals and mortgage rates on Utah Real Estate. To start your home search visit Utah Homes for Sale today.

Percentage of Short Sales in Logan Rising

2010-12-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

The good news is that Cache County Real Estate inventory has substantially declined over the last month. There are 48 less Logan Real Estate listings as there were a month ago.

While the overall number of Logan homes for sale is down, the number of short sale homes is not, and the percentage of listings that are short sales are rising. 6.54% of the total residential real estate listings on the MLS right now are short sales, the highest percentage of short sales Cache Valley has seen.

One of the main reasons we are seeing an increase in short sale listings, is because home prices are decreasing. There are less sellers that have equity, and so when borrowers get into financial trouble, short selling becomes one of their only choices.

Over the last three months the median sales price of homes in Cache County was $157,800, with an average of $168,711. In comparison, people that bought homes during the summer of 2007, the median sales price was $168,775 and the average sales price was 15.8% higher at $200,442.

Logan Home Sales Improved; But Still Poor

2010-12-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

The good news is that home sales in Logan Utah were improved compared with the last two months, but they were still substantially less than average numbers for this time of year. Experts greatly underestimated how much the tax credit would push home purchases forwards, and we are still seeing lingering effects of the home buyer tax credits that expired earlier this year.

Reported so far, 54 MLS listed homes in Logan Utah were reported as sold. This is up by nearly 17% from the 45 residential homes that were reported sold at this time last month. However, it is down 32.5% compared with home sales during November of last year.

Logan Real estate inventory dramatically declined compared with a month ago. Cache County now has 794 residential homes for sale. This is the lowest number of residential listings since May. At Novembers sales pace, this gives Cache County just over 14 months of active real estate supply. There are 57 more homes on the market compared with this time a year ago.

Prices of homes in Cache County continue to decline. The current median list price of $179,950 is down almost $5,000 from a month ago, and down almost $10,000 from the median list price at the beginning of December last year. The average list price of $223,813 is also down, by more than $23,000 from one year ago.
The homes that are selling are among the least expensive of those listed. During November the average sales price was $164,139, with a median point of just $153,700.

Short Sale Numbers Up in Logan

2010-11-15T12:51:00.001-08:00

While overall real estate inventory is on the decline as the Winter Months begin, the number of short sale homes is up. Decreased home prices in Cache County are leading to more underwater homeowners, and more Logan Short Sales.

There are 828 residential homes for sale in Cache County right now. 51 (6.16%) of these homes are short sales. One interesting trend is that the number of short sales in Logan city itself has substantially risen. Logan has 21 short sales, up from 14 last month. The smaller cities in Cache Valley have 30 short sale listings, down from 35 last month.

October Home Sales Down 55%

2010-11-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

During the third quarter, home sales in Cache County were down by more than 37%. That was in large part due to the expiration of the home buyer tax credits. Personally, I thought that during the fourth quarter we would start seeing some more normal home sale numbers. Well, it looks like from October's home sales numbers I was wrong. Cache County home sales were down by more 54.55% last month compared with October of 2009. Reported thus far, just 45 residential homes have been reported as sold. This is the lowest month of home sales since January.

While 45, home sales is a low number for October, the 55% decline is a little misleading. The initial home buyer tax credit ended in November of last year, so there were very high home sales numbers during October of last year. From 2000 - 2004, October averaged 69 home sales each month. From 2005-2009, an average of 97 Cache County Homes sold each month.

Due to the season, not due to lots of home selling, the amount of Logan Utah Real Estate is declining. We currently have 844 residential homes for sale in Cache County. This is down 3.1% from a month a go, but up 11.7% from this time last year. At Octobers home sales pace, Cache County Real Estate has 18.75 months of active inventory.

Logan real estate values also continue to decline. Homes just keep getting less expensive. The median list price of Cache Valley Homes is now down to $184,900, while the average list is down to $226,390. This is still quite high considering that the median price of homes sold during October was just $160,000.

One slightly positive aspect of this months real estate numbers is that the number of under contract homes is actually up from last month. 101 residential homes are under contract compared with 99 a month ago. This should mean that November home sales will be better than October.

Cache Valley Short Sales Up

2010-10-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

The number of homes listed under "short sale" status in Cache county is likely at an all time high. There are currently 49 Short Sale Homes for sale in Cache County. This is the highest it's been since I started keeping track over a year ago.

Total real estate inventory is also at an all time home. Right now there are 873 MLS listings in Logan. This is a 123 more listings than we had at this time a year ago. With inventory high, and prices declining, we will likely see the number of short sale homes increase over the next few months.

What Price Range is The Hardest To Sell Right Now?

2010-10-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

The air is starting to cool, and Winter in Cache Valley is coming. The winter months are typically the slowest months for home selling. But which homes will have the hardest time selling? Which type of Logan homes will have the easiest time selling?

For the most part, the more expensive homes will have the most competition if buyer behavior is similar to the way it has been in the past year. Homes priced above half a million have been nearly impossible to sell. There are currently 28 Cache Valley Homes for sale priced above $500,000, but only 5 in this range that sold in the last 365 days. Last year, homes priced between $400,000 and $500,000 had a better chance of selling than those priced between $300,000 and $400,000. Homes priced between $120,000 and $140,000 sold best.

One good metric for determining the health of the market is by determining months of inventory. The months of inventory are determined by comparing the actual home sales over the past year, with the number of homes in each price range that are actually for sale. So, if no new homes were listed for sale, it would take this many months for all of the existing properties to sell.

The graph below shows the months of inventory broken down by different price ranges. Logan Utah Real Estate has more than a years worth of inventory for homes priced above $200,000. Homes priced between $120,000 and $140,000 have just 5.21 months of inventory. I excluded the over $500,000 homes from the graph, because they currently have 67 months of active inventory.

If you really don't need to sell, then don't even try right now, especially if your home is worth more than $200,000.

Q3 Cache County Home Sales Down 37.85%

2010-10-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

For Cache Valley Real Estate, the third quarter is usually the best quarter of the year in terms of home sales. It encompasses the summer months when most people prefer moving. But not this year. Q3 home sales were way down.

So how bad were home sales during the third quarter in Cache County Utah?

Well, they were down by 37.85%, from last year, and last years third quarter stats were down from the year before that, which were down from 2007, which was down from 2006. To get things in perspective, there has only been two quarters in the last five years that had lower total home sales, both of those quarters happened during the winter.

The prices of Cache County Homes sold was down 3.43% compared with Q3 of last year. The median sales price was $161,000 while the average sales price of $179,171 was at its lowest level in four years.

What Will Happen to Cache County Home Prices?

2010-10-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

What will happen to home prices in Cache County in the near future? We don't really know. But by looking at past statistics and results we can make some educated guesses.

The biggest factor determining future prices is the amount of real estate inventory. The more houses there are for sale, the more home prices will come down. Another factor that will determine future prices is the number of foreclosures that will be hitting the market. Foreclosures not only add to the total inventory, but they also generally have lower sales prices, lowering overall values. Here are current real estate inventory levels compared with previous years.

If there had never been a boom in home prices, where would prices now be if home prices appreciated at a normal gradual pace? Assuming that Cache County home prices were "normal" from 1997-2001, the green and red lines show what the median and average home price would be if home prices went up at exactly 3% each year. At this pace the median price would be $150,048.92 right now. Last months median sales price was $155,580. The average sales price at this rate would $161,919. Septembers average sold price was $161,482.

Under this model, Logan Real Estate prices are just slightly above what they would be at gradual appreciation. However, this doesn't mean that prices will stop dropping. Real estate values are determined by economic conditions in the area. If the economy worsens, prices could drop well below the "normal" values. With 880 current homes for sale in Logan, we will likely see prices drop well below the normal lines. There are more than 13 months of real estate inventory at Septembers home sales pace.

Where would home sales be, if we never had a housing boom?

2010-10-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Despite what Realtors might tell you, home sales in Cache County Utah are down. With the way things are looking, 2010 will likely be the worst year for home sales in Logan since 2002. Home sales this year actually started off close to average, thanks to the home buying tax credit. But, compared with the past five years, home sales during the second half of the year have been pretty dismal.

While home sales are way down from the past five years, they really may not be that far from where they would be if there never was a housing boom. If there weren't hundreds of unqualified buyers and investors buying homes they shouldn't have bought, where would home sales be now?

This graph shows us home sales in Cache County since 1997. The Logan Real Estate boom really started in about 2002. Annual home sales in 2006 were more than double what they were in 1999. And while Cache County is growing, it certainly didn't double over the course of 7 years. Over the past decade growth in Cache County has averaged less than 3% per year. If home sales increased at a gradual, 3% level each year from 2001's home sales levels, we would have had about 913 home sales this year. About 50 more sales than we will actually have based on my projections.

Now the question is, what does this mean for the future? Because home sales were so much higher than normal levels during the boom, will they be less than "normal levels" during the recovery?

They could be less. There are now a lot of potential buyers less likely to want to buy because of what they saw happen to peers who lost equity. There are also good numbers of people who bought at the peak of the housing market, and have faced short sale or foreclosure. These people will not be able to buy for years.

I think the answer to this question really has very little to do with what happened in the past, but has lots to do with how the economy recovers. If the Logan Utah economy recovers, then we should see, a slow but steady increase in sales of Logan Utah Homes. If the economy digresses, and is hit harder, then home sales will probably continue to fall.

September Home Sales an Prices Down in Logan

2010-10-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

September was another awfully bad month for real estate in Logan Utah. Only 59 listed homes have been reported as sold on the MLS so far, and the average sold price is down nearly 12% from a year ago.

Cache County home sales were down by 33.7% compared with September of last year. They were down 13% from last month, which was a really bad month for home sales. This marks the lowest September of home sales since 2002. I thought that the tax credit hangover was over, and that the real estate sales numbers would normalize, but it appears as if it will be more time until we see home sales numbers increase.

Cache County Real Estate prices also appear to be dropping. The September sales price was just $162,582, down 11.96% from a year ago. The median sales price was just $155,850. Prices will likely continue to drop as inventory is still too high. There are currently 871 residential homes for sale in the Logan Utah area. This is 116 more listings than at this time last year.

The next few months don't look like they will be much different for home sales. There are currently 99 homes under contract. This is down from 108 under contract properties at this time last month.

Foreclosures and HUD Home Numbers are Up In Logan

2010-09-22T10:46:00.001-07:00

The fact is that foreclosure numbers in Cache Valley are increasing. There are currently more foreclosure and HUD Homes for sale than I have ever seen before. The increased foreclosure numbers are result of declining home prices, overextended borrowers, and a poor economy.

When I first started selling real estate over five years ago, there was rarely more than one or two HUD homes each month.

There are currently 12 homes for sale in Cache County that are HUD properties. These include townhouses, condos, manufactured homes, ramblers and bungalows. Most of these homes are priced at less than $100,000, and the most expensive of the HUD homes currently for sale has a list price of $145,000. Some of the properties are only available to people who want to owner occupy them, but most of these homes are now open to all bidders.

Click this link if you want to view the currently listed HUD Homes for sale in Logan Utah.

Lease Option Homes in Logan Utah

2010-09-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

The slow real estate market has increased the number of homes for sale in Logan UT that are offering lease options. Right now there are 22 lease option homes for sale in Logan. A couple years ago, I assisted some sellers with a lease option. At that time there were only three other homes being offered as lease options.

Click this link if you would like to view the current Lease Option Homes for Sale in Logan Utah.

With a “Lease Option,” or “Rent to Own home,” sellers rent their home out giving the renter the option to buy the home at a future date. Lease option contracts usually require a substantial down payment. The down payment will be subtracted from the purchase price in the event that the renter buys the house. Lease options also generally have a portion of the rent that goes towards the option as well.

Cache County August Home Sales Numbers Improved

2010-09-02T12:05:00.001-07:00

The good news is that home sales numbers for Cache County Utah during August were substantially improved compared with last month. The bad news is that although the 68 homes sold is an improvement, it is still down nearly 40% compared with last August of last year. This graph shows the comparison of home sales numbers during 2010, compared with the average monthly home sales over the previous five years.

The other good news is that it looks like September home sales will be even better than August home sales. There are more Cache County Homes under contract than there have been in the last two months. We currently have 107 homes under contract compared with just 98 at this time last month.

One interesting thing about the Logan Utah Homes that sold during August is that they were bigger than homes that have sold over the previous four months. The average home that sold was 2,489 square feet, and had an average original list price of $221.767. During April, the average original list price of homes sold was just $176,975, and the average square footage was 2,093 square feet. I think this statistic shows that a much larger percentage of August home sales were made by non first time buyers, whereas, during April the large majority of homes were purchased by first time buyers.

Short Sale Numbers Up in Logan

2010-08-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

The number of homes listed as short sales has risen in Logan over the past month. While the total number of Cache County real estate listings is nearly identical to a month ago, the percentage of these homes requiring bank approval has increased. 4.75 percent of the listed homes in Cache Valley are short sales.

How Do Cache County 2010 Home Sales Compare With Previous Years?

2010-08-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Those who read my blog regularly know that Cache County Home sales were way down last month. I decide to run a little comparison, to see how this years Logan Real Estate sales compare with the average over the previous five years. Here are the results:

Overall, home sales are down, but were down just slightly before the Tax Credit Expiration. May home sales were above the average, as that is the month when most of the last minute tax credit recipients closed. But July home sales were pitiful. As you can see July is usually the second best month for closings. August, which is traditionally the best month for home sales appears as if it won't be much better than July. Hopefully things will get closer to end the year off as the results of the Tax Credits wear off.

Logan July Home Sales Were Really Low

2010-08-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

From watching the statistics and market trends over recent months, I knew that July home sales were going to low. But, I didn't think they would be this bad. I look outside, and the 90 degree temperatures sure don't indicate that its the middle of winter. My unofficial statistics show that last month was the worst July for home sales in Logan Utah since the MLS started keeping stats in 1997.

July Cache County Home Sales were down 47% compared with July of 2009, and were less than half of last months home sales. Clearly, the tax credit had a drastic impact on the movement of home sales. Historically, July is one of the biggest months for Logan UT Real Estate.

The sad news is that it doesn't look like this is just a one month statistical blip either. So far, August sales don't look like they will be much improved. When I did my statistics at the beginning of last month there were 98 under contract homes in Cache County. Right now there are just 98.

The number of Utah Homes for Sale is rising. Cache County now has 906 residential homes for sale, which is an all time high. At July's home sales pace this represents more than 17 months of active inventory. If you are one of the 900 Cache Valley home sellers, and need to sell, now is the time to do something drastic. It looks like it is going to be a long winter for Real Estate in Cache Valley.

One really peculiar stat that stuck out to me was the average days on market. This may have just been an anomaly from a limited sample size, but the average days on market during July was down. This doesn't indicate that homes are selling faster, it just shows that many of the recently listed homes priced their homes right from the beginning and were able to sell.

Cache County Tops 900 Home Listings

2010-07-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

The Home Buying Tax Credit has clearly had its impact on Logan Utah Real Estate. Unfortunately, not all of it is positive. Because many buyers moved their home purchases forward, we have seen a decrease in home sales over the normally heavy summer months. While home sales are slower than they've been recently, there has still been a high number of new home listings hit the market. This has brought us to a record high level of real estate inventory.

There are more homes for sale right now than there has ever been in Cache County. Right now 907 residential Cache Valley Homes for Sale appear on the MLS. As you can see from the graph, inventory levels dropped below 2009 levels during May, right at the end of the second home buying tax credit. Since that point they have steadily trended up. Overall, these high levels of inventory are creating a high absorption rate and will place downward pressure on home values. How low they will go, nobody knows. I just know that there are lots of homes for sale in Logan Utah.

Cache County Multi Family Home Sales Jan-June

2010-07-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Multi Family Home Sales in Cache County have been pretty slow through the first six months of the year. Just five Logan duplexes, and 8 four-plexes have sold thus far. The duplex sales numbers are actually down from a year ago when six duplexes sold in the first six months of the year. Right now there are 15 duplexes for sale in the Logan area. The median list price of these duplexes is $155,000, with an average price of $167,000. The duplexes that have sold this year have been very inexpensive with an average sales price of just $122,690.

Fourplex sales are up a little bit compared with a year ago, but most of the fourplexes that have sold were less expensive than previous years. The median price of the 8 fourplexes sold was just $228,450.

Click this link if you're interested in investing in real estate and want to view multi-family properties for sale in Cache County

Cache County Land Sales Improved! Just 5 Years of Real Estate Inventory

2010-07-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

There is some improved news for Land Owners in Cache Valley, 2010 land sales are up 33% compared to the first six months of last year.

So far there has been 48 land parcels sold in Cache County this year. 17 of these were residential lots less than half an acre. The median price of these residential lots was $56,000 and the average sales price was $53,517. There are 11 plots of land under contract right now.

While Cache Valley land sales are improved, it still has a long way to go to before the Logan real estate market is balanced and land owners can expect their properties to sell for what they want, and in a timely manner. There are currently 203 lots less than half acre currently for sale, and an additional 302 lots for sale on parcels bigger than .5 acres. At this sales pace, Cache County has about five years worth of active real estate inventory.

June Sales Still Good - But Summer Sales in Logan Will Be Down

2010-07-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

Cache County home sales for June were pretty good. 105 MLS homes have been reported sold thus far, an improvement of 5.71% compared with June of last year. June home sales numbers weren't quite as good as May's numbers, and were down by about 8%.

The average price of home sales in Cache County was substantially up during June compared with the last four months. This is a sign that many of the June home sales were not first time buyers, and were not effected by the home buying tax credits. The average price of Cache County Homes Sold during June was $180,724, with a median price of $161,000.

While home sales for the first half of 2010 were pretty positive, so far, the second half of the year doesn't happen to look so good. July is traditionally one of the strongest months for home sales. This month, there will probably be less than a hundred Cache County Homes sold. Right now Cache County has just 99 homes under contract. This is less than half the number of under contract homes as there were in May. Only about 70% of Under Contract properties actually close.

Logan Real Estate also has a record high number of listings on the market. Right now there are 883 active residential homes for sale in Cache County Utah. The price of these homes for sale has dropped. The median price of Cache County residential real estate is $189,900 and the average price is $244,129. If buyer activity doesn't start picking up, we will likely see prices continue to drop this winter.

Cache County Home Sales Up, Condo Sales Way up for First Half of 2010

2010-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but 2010 is nearly half way over. Real Estate sales in Cache County are up for the first half of the year compared with the first half of last year, and Cache Valley Condo sales are more than double what they were last year.

For single family houses in Cache County Utah, sales were up 8.76% from a year ago. There wasn't really a price disparity between the percentage change of more expensive homes and less expensive homes. Cache Valley homes priced below $200,000 saw a sales increase of 8.76%, and Home's priced above $200,000 saw an increase by 8.77%. Last year, homes priced above $200,000 saw a 41% decline compared with the first half of 2008.

Sales of Condos in Logan Utah were more than double last years numbers. 92 Condos and Townhouses sold this year compared with just 43 at this time last year. The average price of condos also declined, the average sold price this year of $124,100 is 10.66% less than last year. The median sales price of condos was just down by 5.14%.

While the quantity of homes that sold was up, prices were way down. The median price of homes sold in Cache County through the first half of the year was $156,000, down 8.18% compared with last years median price of $169,900. The average sold price was down slightly more at 8.54%.

Most of the individual cities in Cache County saw improvements in home sales, with the exception of Providence, and Hyde Park Real Estate. Logan Real Estate sales were up 18.14%, Smithfield Real Estate Sales Rose 26.79%, Hyrum Real Estate Sales increased 24.5%, Nibley Real Estate sales improved 20.6%, Wellsville Real Estate saw 5 more home sales, North Logan Real Estate sales increased 26.7%, and the rural Cache County communities saw home sales improvements of 16.33%.

Short Sale Numbers Slightly Up in Logan

2010-06-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

While Total Real Estate inventory in Cache County is up, the number of short sales is also up, but still significantly less than a couple months ago. The number of Cache County Short Sale listings rose from 29 to 33, an increase of less than half a percent.

Record HIGH number of Home Listings in Cache County

2010-06-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

Right now there are 854 residential homes for sale in Cache County Utah. By my records, this is the highest amount of Real Estate Inventory Cache County has ever had. The previous high I ever noted was 850 in July of last year.

So what does this mean?

In basic economics, it simply means that there is more supply than demand. When this happens, prices will drop. What it means overall is that it is not a good time to try and sell Logan Utah Real Estate. There will still be hundreds of Cache County homes that can and will sell, but the homes that do sell will be those that offer the best value. If you NEED to sell your home you want to make sure you have it priced low, and have it clean and presentable. Showings will be down, so those showings you get, you need to make count. If you don't NEED to sell, you might be better off by just taking your home off the market and learn to enjoy where you now live.

If you need to relocate, it's better to drastically drop the price on your house now rather than to leave it vacant for months or years. Doing so will reduce the overall loss. The high inventory, especially among the high end homes also means that many sellers may want to consider lease options or renting their homes out if the losses that need to be taken will be too much.

There are other variables, other factors of course, and with real estate what really matters is the amount of competition in a particular price range or area. Next month I plan to do my break down by price ranges, and by home sizes for the amount of real estate inventory. That will give us a better idea of which type of Cache Valley homes for sale have most saturated the market.

Cache County Home Sales Up 36%, Inventory Also Way Up

2010-06-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

Home sales in Cache County during May were way up. The 114 Cache County homes reported sold on the WFRMLS mark the highest single month of home sales in Cache County in nearly 22 months, with the exception of July of last year when 117 residential homes sold. Many of these home sales can be attributed to the expiration of the home buyer tax credit at the end of April. For the number of homes that sold, this represents a 36% increase compared with May of last year, and a 16.67% increase compared with April.

Prices of May home sales was down by 6% compared with May of last year. The average price of Cache Valley homes sold was $168,614 while the median price was $153,220. The median price was one of the lowest monthly medians since early 2006. The homes that sold were also smaller than normal, with an average square footage of 2,098 square feet.
Because many of the home purchases were advanced as result of the government stimulus, the future Logan Real Estate market isn't looking quite as bright. Real Estate inventory is way up, there are 58 more homes on the market than there were just a month ago. The current 839 Cache County Homes for Sale is getting close to the highest number of home listings Cache County has ever had.

Home sales in the next few months should be down for Cache Valley Real Estate. The 162 homes that are currently under contract is down 29% from last month. We should expect a drop in real estate activity during June and July as hangover from the tax credit. It will be interesting to see what happens with the local real estate market at the end of the summer.

Cornerstone Real Estate Top Brokerage for Home Sales in May

2010-06-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

Of the different real estate brokerages in Cache County during May, Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals was by far the number one Logan Real Estate brokerage again. For the month May Cornerstone had 31 residential closings just in Cache County, 9 more than any other local brokerage. Cornerstone also had 10 other Utah Real Estate closings that were mostly in Weber and Davis County.

Residential Home Sales in Cache County for May:

Cornerstone .................................31
Parker Real Estate ......................22
Coldwell Banker ...........................21
Youngblood Real Estate ..............17
Century 21 ....................................15
@Home Realty Network ............15

Short Sales in Logan Down 33%

2010-05-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

So I just ran the numbers to see the latest trends for Logan Utah Short Sales, and unless the MLS changed the way short sales are calculated, short sale numbers in Logan are way down. Of the 812 homes listed for sale right now, just 29 Logan Real Estate listings are short sales. This is nearly 33% less than last time I ran the numbers a month in a half ago.

Just 3.59% of the homes listed for sale in Cache County are listed as Short Sales. This is substantially down from the stable trend over the past six months.

Logan Real Estate Inventory Back UP

2010-05-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

After the huge decline in Real Estate inventory at the beginning of the month, when home buyers rushed to get properties under contract at the end of April, Logan Utah Real Estate inventory is up again.

There are currently 812 homes for Sale in Cache County. This is 32 more homes on the market than two weeks ago. The number of home sales in may does look like it will be pretty strong. During May thus far, there has already been more than 65 residential homes sold.

Cornerstone Real Estate #1 Cache County Brokerage for April

2010-05-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Once again Cornerstone Real Estate had more real estate transactions than any other Cache County Brokerage during April. In fact, Cornerstone had more buyer buyer transactions than any other brokerage had total real estate transactions.

Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals had twice as many transactions as @Home Realty Network and Parker Real Estate, and had ten more than Coldwell Banker.

Logan Real Estate Market Looking REALLY Good

2010-05-04T10:26:00.001-07:00

The Logan Utah Real Estate market is looking really good. It's partially due to the homebuyer tax credit, but might also be partially due to an improved economy and more optimism for the future of Utah Real Estate.

During April, Cache County Real Estate sales were up almost 18% compared with last April. They were up almost 16% compared to the good sales numbers we had during March. So far, 95 residential homes on the MLS have been reported as sold.

In the near future, don't expect home sales to slow down. Right now there are 227 residential homes for sale under contract in Cache County. While some of these will fall through, that represents a substantial number of closings that will happen over the next few months.

The prices of homes that have sold in recent months is down, this is in large part due to the large number of purchases involved with first time home buyers. The average price of the homes sold during April was $163,795, down 6.48% from last years average price.

For other positive news, real estate inventory is also down, finally. This is in large part due to the increased buyer activity and the large number of homes that are under contract. It's possible that a lot of sellers took their homes off the market when didn't sell during the tax credit time. There are currently 774 Cache County Homes for Sale. And this actually includes a good number of "phantom listings" where the homes don't actually exist. This is actually less homes than were for sale during May of last year when the Logan area had 787 residential homes listed.

After seeing these numbers, I am very optimistic about the future of the Logan housing market. It looks like things have really turned around and are headed towards a balanced, normal, real estate market.

Logan Real Estate is Busy - 205 Under Contract Homes

2010-04-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Logan Real Estate is busy right now. With the expiration of the home buyer tax credits, buyers and real estate agents are rushing to get things done. While there hasn't necessarily been a huge number of closings in the last week, there has been a very large number of homes go under contract.

On Monday there were 820 listed homes in Cache County. Right now, there are just 807. This is really positive to see the inventory moving in the downward direction, especially being that it is normally such a big season for listing homes. Cache County Real Estate Inventory has dropped substantially over the last few days.

The biggest reason inventory has gone down, is because so many properties are going under contract. Two weeks ago there were 172 Logan Homes for Sale Under Contract, right now there are 205! This bodes well for future Logan Real Estate sales.

Over the last week there were only 13 homes listed on the MLS that were reported sold. I'm betting this number is actually higher, but many of the agents are so busy right now that they haven't had time to update the stats.

All the tax credit craziness will end in just two days, and the real estate market will be reliant on its own power again. There will definitely be a little lag for seasonal levels for home sales during July and August as many buyers advanced their home purchases to qualify for the tax credits. It will be really interesting to see how Northern Utah Real Estate fares this summer.

800 Homes on the Market in Cache County

2010-04-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

It is official. There are now 800 homes for sale in Cache County Utah. In the last week, 21 homes went under contract, in total 171 homes are now under contract. The end of April looks like it will be even stronger for total home sales.

Number of Short Sale Homes Down in Logan

2010-04-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

The Number of Homes listed as Short Sales in Logan Utah is down compared with last month. There are currently just 11 Short Sale homes for sale in Logan. The percentage of total Short Sales in Cache County is also down, 5.66% of the 799 properties for sale in Cache County are Short Sales. The total number of short sales is actually slightly up, as many of the outlying cities in Cache Valley saw an increase. In total, there are 44 listed short sale homes for sale.

Home Sales, Under Contracts, and # Of Listings in Cache County Up

2010-04-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

The number of homes sold in Cache County during March was up 16.25% compared with March of last year. 80 residential Cache County homes sold, which is up 35% from February's home sale numbers. The number of homes under contract has also risen in the last month. There are currently 167 residential properties under contract in Cache Valley. This is up 15% from just two weeks ago. A lot of buyers are active right now in effort to beat the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit. This means that we will see strong home sales numbers over the next few months.

While increased number of home sales is positive for the recovery of the Logan Real Estate economy, there are also more homes currently for sale.

Right now Cache County has 794 residential homes for sale. This is more actively listed MLS homes than there has ever been at the beginning of April.

Prices of homes sold in Cache County has declined recently. During March, homes sold for about 10% less than they did during March of last year. The average sold price was $170,902 and the median point was $152,250.

The price per square footage has also dropped. The average home that sold in Cache County during march was 2,263 square foot, and sold for just under $76 per square foot.

Cornerstone Real Estate #1 Brokerage for Q1 Home Sales

2010-04-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

The numbers are in, and for the first quarter of 2010 Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals is the number one Logan Utah Real Estate brokerage in terms of total home sales.

Even more impressive is the huge advantage Cornerstone has for the number of buyer transactions among the major Cache Valley Real Estate brokerages. For the second quarter, Cornerstone had nearly three times more buyers transactions than Parker Real Estate, Youngblood Real Estate, and ERA Advantage Realty. It also had nearly twice as many transactions as Century 21, @Home Realty Network, and Coldwell Banker.

From: Cornerstone #1 Cache County Real Estate Brokerage.

Home Sales Up, Prices Down for Cache Valley Real Estate in Q1

2010-04-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Total home sales in Cache County were up by about 9 and a half percent in the First Quarter of 2010, compared with the first quarter of 2009. There were 16 more residential homes sold this year compared with last year when just 155 homes sold during Q1. February and March were relatively strong months for Cache County Real Estate after a slow January.

While home sales are up, the price of Cache Valley Real Estate is down by quite a bit. The median sold price this year was just $152,150; 8.34% less than last year. The average sold price was also down by 7.62% from $184.796 to $170,721. The average third quarter sales price was almost as low as 2006.

While Q1 home sales are improved compared with last year, they are still substantially less than 2006, 2007, and 2008. 261 Cache County homes sold during the first quarter of 2007.

Number of Cache Valley Homes for Sale Up

2010-03-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

There has been a substantial increase in the number of new home listings in Cache Valley recently; yesterday there were 15 new properties in Cache County listed on the MLS.

Right now there are 784 residential homes for sale in Cache County. Last Tuesday there were just 759 active listings.

Right now Cache County has about 40 more homes for sale than we had at this time last year.

Logan Ranks 7th Nationally for Population Growth

2010-03-23T18:06:00.001-07:00

Provo-Orem, Logan among national leaders in population growth | Deseret News
- Provo-Orem and Logan were two of the nation's fastest-growing metro areas last year, according to Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday.
  
  Provo-Orem ranked No. 6 and Logan was No. 7 among the nation's 366 metro areas in percentage change of growth between 2008 and 2009
- The high ranks came even though population growth in Utah last year slowed to a comparative crawl, at least by local standards. The actual population increase in Utah dropped in half over the past two years. But growth was still robust compared with the rest of the nation.
  "While in-migration slowed down in Utah like most states in the nation during the recession, we continue to have the highest fertility rate in the nation," said state demographer Juliette Tennert. "So even in a time of economic downturn, we are usually a leader in the nation for growth."
- Logan is also home to Utah State University, Tennert noted that "Logan was an area not quite as impacted by the recession as other places in Utah. Everywhere felt some impact, but Logan was doing a little better than most," so it also may have attracted more immigration than other places by drawing people to jobs there.
- The Logan metro area had an increase of 3,583 residents for a total population of 127,945. Logan ranked No. 296 in population among metro areas, up from No. 299.

This is good news for the Logan real estate market. A growing population will always help maintain real estate values.

Lots of Homes "Under Contract" in Logan - April Should be Huge Month for Home Sales

2010-03-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

April is looking like it is going to be a huge month for Cache County Real Estate. Tons of Homes are going under contract every day. There are lots of new listings hitting the market, as is typical during spring, but the amount of total real estate inventory has only risen slightly because so many homes are going under contract.

In just the last two weeks, 59 residential properties in Cache Valley have had accepted offers. In the last 30 days, 106 properties went under contract. In total there are 143 properties under contract in Cache County Utah.

While some of these under contract properties will fall through do to financing or due diligence reasons, most of these will result in actual sales for the end of March and April. The way things are set up, April should have more than a hundred total home sales. There hasn't been more than a hundred homes sold during April in Cache Valley since 2007.

Many of these home sales can be attributed to the upcoming expiration of the home buyer tax credits, which are scheduled to expire at the end of April. Regardless of the reason, this is very positive news for the Logan Real Estate market, especially in regards to inventory levels.

Cache County Short Sales Declining

2010-03-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

The number of Homes for Sale as Short Sales in Cache County is declining. Right now there are three less short sale homes in Cache Valley than there was a month ago. The amount of total homes for Sale in Cache County has risen to 760 active listings, making the percentage of homes listed as Short Sales down. 5.66% of the current Cache Valley homes listed require short sale approval.

Logan Real Estate Selling for 11% Less than List Price

2010-03-10T15:22:00.001-08:00

Logan Real Estate Selling for 11% Less than List Price

The Number of Days Homes are on the Market, and the difference between list and sold price don't indicate that the Logan Real Estate market has bottomed out yet.

tags: real estate, logan utah, list price, home price
- For the first few months of 2010, the average selling price for homes in Logan Utah is substantially less than the original asking price. Last month the homes that sold in Cache County had an original list price of $203,098. These homes had an average selling price of $180,232.50. This is 11% less than the initial listed price. During January the difference was even greater. The average original list price of homes in January was $183,756, and the actual sold price of these properties was $160,197. That’s a 13% difference in price.
  
  The number of days it takes for homes to sell in Cache County has also risen. Last month it took 164 days on the market before a home actually sold. During January, homes that sold were on the market for 171 days. One interesting thing you can note from this graph is that the days on market dipped down a built right around the expiration of the first home buyer tax credit. This is evidence that the tax credit has made an impact on the Cache Valley Real Estate market.

February Cache County Home Sales UP

2010-03-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Home Sales in Cache County for February were much improved over January. They weren't stellar by any means, but they improved compared with February of last year.

52 residential Cache County Homes sold last month as reported on the WFRMLS. This is up by more than 17% compared with February of last year when just 43 residential homes sold. The average price of these properties was $180,232, and the median sales price was at $164,495. This is the highest monthly average for home prices in five months. It is also up by 4% compared with the average sold price in February of last year.

Some positive news is that the amount of new listings in Cache Valley only slightly increased compared with last month. There are currently 752 homes for sale in the Logan Utah area. At February's home sales pace this represents an absorption rate of a little over 14 months.

Why it IS a good time to Sell Cache Valley Real Estate

2010-02-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there was an article in the Herald Journal that had a pretty negative tone about the Logan Utah real estate market. It quoted me, and apparently riled up a bunch of local real estate agents. They called the local Realtor Board, and complained about the comments I said.

Personally, I didn’t think that the article was that bad. It stated the facts, and explained some of the reasoning of why home sales in January were so low. Sometimes we have to face the reality. We can’t sugar coat everything. The article came across more negatively than I would have liked, but lets face the facts. A journalists goal is to get their articles read, and striking headlines are more often read than boring sales statistic numbers.

With that said, If you price your home right, it is actually a good time to sell for several reasons. One thing to remember is that you only need to sell your house to ONE potential buyer.

Buyers Have Urgency - There are lots of potential buyers out there who have a sense of urgency to buy. The home buyer tax credits require that homes go under contract by the end of April. Mortgage interest rates are likely at the lowest they will ever be. Many people realize this, and want to take advantage of mortgage savings.
Great Time to Upgrade - There are lots of deals out there if you are looking to upgrade. The deal you get on the house you upgrade to can far exceed the loss you would take on the sell of your house. If you lose $5,000 on the sell of your house, but get $25,000 in equity on the home you purchase you have a net gain of $20,000. The low interest rates and great deals on homes for sale in Logan have personally tempted me into possibly upgrading.
Spring is in the Air – Spring is traditionally a huge season for looking for homes for sale in Cache Valley. New potential buyers are starting their home search every day. Remember, they are only going to be buying one house. There are also lots of buyers out there who have seen everything currently on the market that matches their criteria and are looking for something better. They know that lots of new listings are coming out each day and are waiting to find the best home possible.
It is NOT a Buyers Market for Starter Homes - Homes priced below $161,000 are actually selling at balanced market paces. Many have multiple offers. It is not a buyers market at all for the less expensive properties for sale in Cache County. Cache Valley home prices between $160,000 and $180,000 are also selling at almost balanced market paces.

While many of the higher end homes won’t sell this year, some will. For many sellers, it is a GREAT time to sell in Cache Valley. You only need to sell your home once.

Logan Utah Home Sales for January 2010

2010-02-17T15:57:00.000-08:00

Real Estate in Logan Utah was not doing so good during January compared to months previous. During January only 16 homes were sold, whereas, there were 25 homes sold the previous month, December. Although home sales went down since December, they were about the same as January of last year.

Not only have homes sales dropped in Logan but so has the Average Sales Price of the homes being sold. This January the Average Sales Price was around $125,228 which is down from December when it was $130,716. In Logan the amount of homes sold during January was around the same amount as last year but as for the Average Sales Price, that wasn't the case. Last January the Average Sales Price was $172,173. That is around $57,000 more than January of this year.

Other cities in Cache County are experiencing sort of the same decline in home sales. In Providence, Smithfield and Hyrum the number of homes sales is pretty much always in the single digits anyways but there has still been some decline in their home sales.

In Providence, homes sales were barely down from December's home sales but before December home sales were higher with 7 and 9 home sales rather than only having 3 and 4 home sales Like December and January did. But unlike Logan, Providence's Average Sale Price is up more than $4,500 from last January, not down.

In Smithfield and Hyrum Utah, homes sales went down as well. Although both cities already have low home sale numbers anyways, January wasn't any better. Smithfield went from 11 homes sold during December to 6 homes sold during January. Hyrum went from 5 homes sold during December to 0 homes sold the entire month of January.

Number of Cache County Homes for Sale High

2010-02-17T14:08:00.000-08:00

Number of Logan Homes for Sale Alarmingly High | Logan Homes – Free Logan Home Search:

"I conduct market condition stats for Logan Real Estate during the first part of every month. One of the things I pay attention to is the number of homes for sale in Logan Utah. This number has more significance on future pricing trends than anything else. It is simple economics. When there are more homes and less buyers, prices will go down. When there are more buyers than there are homes for sale, prices go up. While doing some statistics today to calculate the percentage of short sales in Logan, I noticed that there are currently 747 homes for sale in Cache County right now.

Just two weeks ago, there were 718 active residential listings in Cache County. That’s a net list vs. under contract of more than two new listings a day. At the rate we are going, we will likely see a record number of homes on the market, and will see more than 900 listings at once by the time summer hits.

In comparison, last year Cache County had less than 700 homes on the market. February of 2008 had 514 homes listed, and February of 2007 had around 400 listed homes, almost half the number we have right now.

It is possible that many of these homes were listed by people who want to take advantage of the move up tax credit. If this is the case, after April we may see a reduction in Logan Utah Real Estate inventory."

This article was taken from LoganHomes.info

Cache Valley Short Sales Remain Stable

2010-02-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

For the third straight month there are exactly 47 short sales in Cache County Utah. 13 of these short sale homes are found in Logan while the remaining 34 are found in the outlying communities in Cache Valley. While the number of short sale homes for sale has remained the same, the percentage of Cache County homes for sale that are short sales has actually declined, because the number of total residential home listings has gone up. There are currently 747 active residential listings in Cache Valley, meaning that 700 of the homes for sale are not short sales. 6.29 percent of the current listings are seeking short sale approval.

Click this link if you would like to view the current short sale homes for sale in Cache Valley.

Cache County Real Estate Market Healthy Below $160,000.

2010-02-04T14:27:00.001-08:00

Real Estate in Cache County is pretty healthy for homes priced less than $160,000. This price is the median point for home sales, meaning that half of the homes that sold were $160,000 or less. The interesting thing is that of the current active home listings, only 1/3rd are priced below $160,000. This essentially means that if you are buying a home in the higher price ranges, you have twice as much inventory to choose from.

Compared with the homes that sold last year, there is less than 7 months of active inventory for listings priced less than $160,000. Cache County Homes priced between $160,000 and $180,000 see 7.36 months of inventory, and homes priced above $180,000 have more than 10 months of inventory. This chart shows the absorption rate broken down by different price ranges:

As you can see, homes priced above $500,000 are having a very difficult time selling. Last year just eight of these high end homes sold. There are currently 44 homes priced above half a million on the market. On average these homes have already been on the market for 310 days.

Logan Utah Real Estate Sales start 2010 off..... poorly?

2010-02-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Nobody knows exactly how well the Logan Real Estate market will do this year. Most of the Realtors I've talked too are optimistic that it is starting to improve, that things will be better. The last half of last year were much improved with their year over year comparisons.

Well the numbers for the first month of 2010 are mostly in. And so far, the numbers look pretty dismal. I normally don't do market condition stats quite this early simply because there are always some slow Logan Realtors out there who just forget to update their listings in the MLS. But, if these numbers hold accurate, home sales this January are worse than last year, and mark the single worst month for number of Cache County Home sales in nearly nine years.

Thus far, only 39 residential MLS listings in Cache County have been reported as sold. This is down nearly 5% from January last year, which was the worst month of the year for home sales.

The average price of homes sold during January was also down. The 39 homes that sold had an average price of $166,581 and a median sold price at just $146,250. This is the lowest single month average since May of 2006.

While home sales and prices were down, the amount of Logan Utah Homes for Sale was up. Cache County currently has 718 residential homes for sale. This is nearly 30 more homes for sale than we had during February of last year.

Cache County Residential Land - Far From Recovery

2010-01-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

While the housing market in Cache County is doing pretty well, Cache County Land is far from recovery. For residential lots of less than an acre, we're looking at more than three YEARS of active inventory. The prices of these Cache County lots still need to come down in price by about 15-30%. Here is a break down of Cache County Land Sales Number and prices for lots less than an acre.

Lot's Less Than .25 Acres

Lots smaller than a quarter acre are rarely sold individually. Neighborhoods with smaller lots are generally owned buy builders and developers. But, for the few lots that actually did sell last year, this was one of the bright spots. Nine smaller lots sold last year, and there are less than seven currently for sale. That's less than a years worth of inventory!

Prices of the Lots for Sale are also doing well. As you can see from the graph below, the list price of the current Cache County Properties for sale is about par, or even less than the average sold price the last three years.

Lots Between .26-.5 Acres

Now this is where it starts to get ugly. There are currently 113 residential lots for sale in Cache County. Only 34 properties in this range sold last year. That is nearly 40 months of inventory. Not only is there a huge surplus of these types of lots for sale, but the average price of the active listings is $22,00 higher than the average sold price last year. The most ridiculous thing is that these list prices are still higher than lots of this size have EVER sold for. Sellers need to face reality and substantially lower their prices.

Lots Between .5-.74 Acres

Between half an acre and .74 acres there are 55 lots for sale. Last year, only 8 sold. That is 132 months of active inventory. The median list price of these type of lots is $33,000 higher than the median price of the ones that sold last year.

Lots Between .75-.99 Acres

The larger lots less than an acre are also struggling. Only five of these properties sold last year. There are 28 properties currently for sale. The average list price of these properties is higher than they have ever sold before. The current median list price is $169,000. Four lots sold in 2009 and these lots had a median sales price of $76,000.

Search Logan Utah Real Estate Now!

Logan Short Sale Numbers Constant

2010-01-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

The number of short sale homes in Logan Utah has remained pretty constant over the last four months. Currently Cache County has 47 homes for sale that require "short sale" bank approval. This is the same amount of short sale homes as were on the market last month.

Percentage wise, the number of short sales is actually up slightly as there are now less total homes for sale. Last month there were 738 total residential MLS listings, this month there are just 720. Logan City itself has 13 short sale homes, the remaining cities in account for 38 Cache County short sales.

Number of Homes for Sale in Logan Rising Quickly

2010-01-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

I just ran a quick check of the number of homes for sale in Cache County, and was astonished to see that in just a week, the number of Logan Real Estate inventory had risen by nearly 5%. Exactly one week ago, Cache County had 687 residential real estate listings. Right now there are 720.

Last year we didn't hit inventory levels this high until the March when the Spring listing season typically hits. March and April are typically big months for listing homes for sale.

Some of the increase in inventory can be attributed to the $6,500 move up tax credit. People want to sell by April so they can get the government money when they buy their new homes. However, this sharp spike in the number of homes for sale in Logan is alarming. Home prices will continue to decline as long as there are more homes on the market than there are buyers. At last years pace of home sales, we have more than 9 months of Cache County real estate inventory right now.

2009 Home Sales in Cache County Down 9%

2010-01-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

While the last quarter of the year saw improvements in home sales in Cache County, overall 2009 real estate sales were substantially down compared with 2008.

For MLS listed homes, there were just 979 Cache County Homes sold, down 9% from the 1073 homes sold in 2008. Compared with 2007, when 1295 residential homes in Cache County Sold, home sales were down almost 25%. This is the lowest year of total home sales since 2003.

Prices of homes sold were down by 4.78%. This doesn't necessarily mean that all Cache County Real Estate depreciated 5%, but it does tell us that the homes that sold were less expensive. In all reality starter homes just slightly depreciated, and more expensive homes likely depreciated in value much more than 4.98%.

It will be interesting to see what happens with real estate sales in 2010. Many economists are predicting that Utah Real Estate will have bottomed out by the end of the summer.

Logan Utah Real Estate December Numbers

2010-01-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

Logan Utah Real Estate sales during December were almost identical to a year ago. From the MLS Listings sold during December, there has been reported one more home sold, and the average and median prices of homes sold was just slightly down.

December of 2009 had 62 residential homes in Logan listed on the MLS sell. These homes had a median sales price of exactly $150,000 and an average price of $172,734.

At this time last year, there were 61 Logan UT Real Estate listings reported as sold. These homes had a median price of $151,840, and an average price at $161,499. The average price is almost $10,000 higher this year, in large part because there were two Cache Valley Homes priced above $450,000 that sold in 2009, while there weren't any homes that expensive that sold last year.

There are currently 693 homes for Sale in Cache County Utah. This is the lowest level of inventory since February. There are 9 more homes on the market right now than there were a year ago. At December's home sales pace, Cache Valley has 11.24 months of inventory. Until this goes down home prices will remain soft.

December is the first month in quite some time that is mostly unaffected by stimulus. Although the government tax credits were extended, and still in effect, they were late enough that there were likely very few closings during December that were a direct result of the new $6,500 tax credit.

If this is any indication of future home sales for Cache County, statistically we can expect a similar year for real estate in Cache Valley.

Q4 Cache County Home Sales up 16%

2010-01-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

Home Sales in Cache County were up by 16% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. So far, the there have been 249 Cache County Homes that have reported as sold on the MLS. These home sales numbers are very comparable with the fourth quarter of 2007 when the housing crisis in Logan really began.

While home sales were up compared with last year, the median and average price of Cache County Real Estate was substantially down. It was the lowest fourth quarter levels in four years actually. The median home sales price was $154,800, down 7.36% from the median sales price during Q4 of 2008. The average sold price of Cache County Homes was $170,743, down 4.82% from the average 2008 price of $179,743.

Multi Family Home Sales in Logan Improving

2009-12-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

Home Sales of Multi Family Homes in Logan, Duplexes, Triplexes, and Fourplexes are improving. They are definitely not outstanding, but over the last three months they have been up compared with the rest of the year.

There are currently 9 Duplexes for Sale in Logan, and 26 Tri and Fourplexes for Sale. This includes most of the Multi-Family properties for sale in Cache County. Outside of Logan there are three additional duplexes for sale found in Smithfield and Hyrum, and one additional fourplex for sale.

In the last year 15 Duplexes in Cache County have sold. With the current 12 on the market, this gives Cache County 9.6 months of inventory at the annual rate. But, during the last three months 5 Cache County Duplexes have sold. This is just 7.2 months of inventory at the past three month pace.

Inventory of tri and four-plexes has also seen improvement, but the numbers are still pretty dismal. Cache County currently has 27 tri/fourplex properties for sale. In the last year, just 13 of these properties have sold. This is more than 2 Years of inventory! But, over the last three months there have been 4 fourplexes sold, which lightens the blow a little bit and brings the active inventory down to 20 months.

Overall there still just isn't a lot of buyer activity for investment properties in Logan. By far, duplex purchases have been the most popular. It's a tough market to try and sell four-plexes.

You can view all the MLS listed Duplex's, Triplexes, and Fourplexes for sale in Logan here.

Cache County Sellers are Getting Closer to Ask Price

2009-12-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Cache Valley home sellers have been getting 6.5% less than their original list price when selling their homes the last two months. This is closer to the original list price than we've seen in a while.

This tells us that either home buyers are offering more, or else sellers are now more realistic with their original list price. From April-September, the average sales price of Cache County Utah Real Estate was more than 10% less than the original list price.

Short Sales in Logan Utah

2009-12-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

There are currently 12 Short Sales in Logan Utah, and 35 in the smaller Cache Valley cities. This is up slightly from last month. Currently, 6.37 percent of all active listings are Cache Valley Short Sales.

Five of the current Logan Short Sales have already been approved by the bank. This means the purchase transaction shouldn't be much different than an ordinary transaction from the buyers standpoint. The other 62 Cache County properties listed as short sales still require bank approval before closing can actually take place. This means the real estate transaction could take many months, or may not actually even happen at all if the bank isn't willing to allow the short sale.

Here are the five Cache Valley Short Sales that have supposedly already had bank approval. Two of these are huge houses in the North Logan/Hyde Park area.

Click this link to view all Cache Valley Short Sales for Sale.

November Home Sales up 37% from 2008

2009-12-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Cache County home sales were up 37% compared with November of last year when just 51 residential homes in Cache Valley sold. So far, 81 Cache Valley homes have been reported sold by the MLS.

The huge increase in home sales can largely be attributed to the scheduled expiration of the first time buyer tax credit. Although it has been extended, many people purchased Logan real estate because they were trying to beat the expiration.

With many of the homes purchased by first time buyers, the median price of homes sold in Logan was also substantially down. The median sold price was just $150,000, the lowest it has been in years.

Even though home sales were up compared with last year, they were down compared with October. The amount of homes for sale in Logan only declined slightly during November. At November's home sales rate, there is currently 9.3 months of active real estate inventory in Cache Valley. The actual number of homes on the market has gone down, but as a ratio the inventory is up.

Hyrum Utah Homes for Sale less than $150,000

2009-12-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hyrum Utah is a unique community in Cache Valley. It offers some of the most affordable homes for sale in the valley. There are many starter homes for sale in the Hyrum Area.

Currently there are 16 homes for sale in Hyrum for less than $150,000. There are also a few condos as well. Many of these homes are newer homes on the east bench of Hyrum, although some are also old farm homes in the older portions of Hyrum. Hyrum also offers condos for sale in the Elk Mountain neighborhood.

Here are some of the best deals of Hyrum homes for less than $150,000:

There are just two homes for sale in Hyrum for less than $100,000. One of them is a manufactured home, while the other is actually a partial ownership cabin up blacksmith fork canyon. This price of just $33,000 is really misleading to viewers on the MLS, as it appears that a 3,800 square foot home is just $33,000.

Visit Hyrum Utah Real Estate, for more information about Hyrum Utah Homes for Sale for less than $120,000, Hyrum Utah real estate market statistics, or more information.

Have You Lived in Your Home For Five Years? 6,500 Reasons to Upgrade

2009-11-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

Have you lived in your current home for atleast 5 Years? Have you thought about upgrading or downgrading into a different residence?

If so, right now is an awesome time to upgrade. There are tax credits available for home buyers, there are screamin deals on many Utah Homes for Sale, and mortgage interest rates are incredibly cheap.

$6,500 Stimulus Tax Credit Incentive

Until the end of April, you may be eligible for a $6,500 tax credit. This Credit is available for all buyers making less than $220,000 per year, who have lived in their current home for five out of the last eight years.

Lots of Selection and Sales on Northern Utah Homes
There is an oversupply of large homes in Northern Utah. In Cache Valley, there are 220 properties for sale larger than 3,000 square feet. This is 11.58 months of inventory. There are 93 Box Elder county homes for sale bigger than 3,000 square feet, or 18.6 months of active inventory. Weber County has 511 properties for sale, or 11.93 months of inventory, and Davis County Utah has 700 properties larger than 3,000 square feet for sale, 8.52 months of inventory based on the last six months of home sales.

Mortgage Interest rates are dirt cheap.

Mortgage Rates for conventional mortgages are currently less than 5%, for 30 year fixed mortgages right now. 15 year fixed, and 5-year ARM's are even less expensive. At a 5% interest rate, a $250,000 loan has the same monthly payment as 2 $200,000 loan at a 7% interest rate. If you have a mortgage, you're going to get a lot more home for your payment with the current rates.

Moderate Homes are actually selling.

If you do own a home, you probably need to sell before you can buy. The good news is that starter and more moderate homes in Northern Utah are actually selling. Prices of these homes aren't as high as they were a couple years ago, but sellers of these types of homes are usually getting close to what they are asking. For homes less than 2,000 square feet, Davis County has just 4.86 months of inventory, Weber County 7, Box Elder County 7.18 months, and Cache County just 6.15 months of real estate inventory.

Selling your current home in this market is possible. With this new tax credit, you actually have until June to buy, you just need to get your new property under contract by the end of April.

If upgrading is something you have thought about, call a Cornerstone Real Estate Agent today to discuss your options.

October Home Sales Up for Cache Valley

2009-11-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

October was actually a pretty good month for home sales in Cache Valley. There were nearly a hundred homes sold (99 so far, but there are always some Realtors who are slow to report their end of month sales).

Cache County Home Sales were up 10% from September, and up 6% compared with October of last year. October will be the third best month of the year for Logan Ut Real Estate.

One of the primary reasons that home sales have improved has to be the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit, which was scheduled to expire this month. It has since been extended through April of next year, but the expiration of it did spur many first time buyers into taking the steps too purchase now.

Some statistical evidence that supports this is the fact that during October, we had the lowest average monthly home sales price since May of 2006, and the smallest average square footage of homes sold since March of 2003!

While home sales were up, the amount of inventory on the market is also down. At October's home sales pace, Cache County now has seven and a half months of active inventory.

It's still a good time to buy homes in Cache Valley Utah

Cache County Home Sales for Third Quarter

2009-10-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Home sales in Cache County during the third quarter were down by about 5% compared with the third quarter of last year. They were up compared with last quarter, but that's a poor indication as to what is happening with the real estate market because Cache County real estate is so seasonal. The third quarter is traditionally the strongest period for Home Sales in Cache Valley. Home sales during the third quarter have continually dropped for the last four years.

Even though home sales were down during the third quarter, the trend does show improvement. They are considerably, "less down" than they were during the first half of the year. During the first two quarters of 2009, Cache County home sales were down by double digits.

Prices of homes sold in Cache County during the third quarter is also down. The median Q3 sold price of $166,727 is less than the median sold price of 2007. This doesn't necessarily mean that home values are less than they were in 2007, but it does show that a large percentage of the Homes in Logan Utah that are selling are of the more affordable variety.

Overall the recovery of the Logan Utah Real Estate market appears to be slower than in other parts of Utah. Areas like Utah County, and Davis County Real Estate have seen third quarter improvements compared with last year.

Cornerstone Real Estate sees increase in sales while other Brokerages see Decrease

2009-10-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

One of the owners of Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals, Robert Brown, ran some stats comparing the top Logan Utah Real Estate Brokerages.

These numbers show home sales stats so far through this year, compared to the entire year for 2008. So far, Cornerstone Real Estate already has more homes sold than it did all of last year. Most of the other Cache Valley brokerages appear like their sales totals will be significantly down.

Over the last year, Cornerstone is the leading brokerage for home buyers. Cornerstone has already closed more than 100 buyer transactions this year.

Foreclosure Rate Increasing Cache Valley

2009-10-12T13:14:00.001-07:00

Foreclosure rate inching upward in Cache Valley

The number of short sales and the rate of foreclosures are increasing in Cache Valley. The Herald Journal interviews Ty Haguewood of Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals.

tags: foreclosures, short, sales
- Foreclosure rate inching upward in Cache Valley
- With the economy still struggling and layoffs on the rise, the risk of foreclosures is rising.
- According to figures from First American CoreLogic, a company that collects real estate statistics, the foreclosure rate in the Logan area rose from 0.42 percent to 0.84 percent during the past year.
- This is still well below the national rate of 2.86 percent, but experts believe the trend isn’t likely to reverse for some time.
- Kim Datwyler, executive director of Logan-based Neighborhood Nonprofit Housing Corporation, also says that the region “hasn’t topped out” when it comes to foreclosures.

One advantage we have in Cache Valley is that the price of homes hasn't declined much since the peak of the housing boom. People that have owned their homes for a few years nearly always have the option of selling, and can afford to sell. In other portions of Utah, Short Sales are a much larger percentage of the overall real estate market.

Cache Valley has more than 40 Short Sale Homes

2009-10-07T13:11:00.001-07:00

The number of homes requiring short sales continues to rise for Cache Valley. There are now more than 40 listed properties that require bank approval. Prices are dropping on these properties, especially the more expensive ones. Currently the most expensive Short Sale Home in Cache Valley is priced at $475,000. A few months back there were a half dozen homes more than half a million.

Overall the number of real estate listings in Cache Valley is dropping. An increased number of short sales tells us that prices are declining and more borrowers are seeing hard times.

September Home Sales and Prices Down for Logan

2009-10-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

After the best month in the year, Cache County home sales were down a little in September. Just 88 homes have been reported sold compared with 116 in August, and down from 100 of September of last year.

The average price of homes sold during September was also much lower than it has been in recent times. The median sold price of Cache County Homes was just $154,000. This means that half of the 88 properties sold were less than $154,000.

Cache County currently has 755 homes for sale. This includes homes for sale in Logan Utah, North Logan Homes, Providence Utah Homes, Smithfield Utah Homes, Hyrum Utah Homes, Nibley Utah Homes, and the more rural areas of Cache Valley. At Septembers Sales pace, Cache County has nearly 9 months of active inventory.

Winter is approaching and home sales are typically much slower during the colder months of the year. October and November should still be pretty good months for home sales with the expiration of the first time buyer tax credit.

Logan Utah Homes for Sale - 762

2009-09-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the Logan Utah Real Estate market. The number of Logan Homes for Sale continue to decline. There are currently 762 active residential home listings in Cache County.

Of these Logan Homes for Sale, 693 represent single family homes. 60 are condos or townhomes. 40 of these Logan Utah Homes for sale are Short Sales. This is the highest amount of Logan Short Sales since I've kept track.

The average price of these homes for sale is still high. The median list price of Cache County homes is $199,250 while the Average price is $256,835.

Click this link to view all Logan Utah Homes for Sale

Equity Now – How to Use Federal First Time Buyer Tax Credit as Down Payment « Utah Homes for Sale – Real Estate Market Conditions

2009-09-09T14:10:00.001-07:00

Equity Now – How to Use Federal First Time Buyer Tax Credit as Down Payment « Utah Homes for Sale – Real Estate Market Conditions

Equity Now Program Allows First Time Home Buyers to effectively use the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit towards closing costs.

tags: equity now, first time buyer, tax credit
- The new “Equity Now” program essentially allows first time buyers to get a small Utah Housing Loan that will be paid back using the $8,000 in grant money.
  
  The Equity Now loan isn’t limited to just $8,000 either. It can actually be used for up to 6% of the amount of the primary loan. It is really just a second mortgage and has almost nothing to do with the tax credit.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Home Run Part 2- $4,000 for New Construction Homes

2009-09-09T11:53:00.001-07:00

Home Run Part 2- $4,000 for New Construction Homes

The home run grant for new construction properties is back. It's a little less per person, but more people will be able to benefit from it. Here are a few highlight details of Home Run Part II.

tags: New Construction, Homes, Utah, Stimulus, home run, 4000
- 1,950 home buyers will get to take advantage of this home buying incentive.
- The Guidelines between this and the first Home Run Grant program are mostly the same.
- The main difference is that buyers can receive grants for homes that will be built.
- Married couples must have annual incomes of less than $150,000, singles less than $75,000.
- Buyers need to use a Utah Housing Corporation approved lender. The lender arranges for the grant money.
- Utah housing will provide a “grant commitment” which will be good as long as the home is completed by June 30th of next year.
- If the property is an existing home, that has neverbeen lived in, then the the buyer has just 10 days to use.
- This should be a good boost to the economy for Utah Builders.
- These grant certificates will likely run out quickly, so if you want to buy one of these homes, start looking now. Find Homes for Sale in Utah.

30-year fixed-rate near 5 percent

2009-09-08T10:34:00.001-07:00

30-year fixed-rate near 5 percent

Mortgage Rates are down again, making the next few months a truly remarkable time for first time buyers to get into a house. Lowest rates imagineable, and $8,000 to buy a house. It will likely never be this good again, so act now, government tax credit expires at the end of November.

tags: mortgage rates
- The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 5.08 percent with an average of 0.7 point, down from 5.14 percent a week ago and 6.35 percent a year ago

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Logan Summer Home Sales Numbers on Par With 2008

2009-09-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Summer is the busiest time for real estate sales in Cache Valley. From June 1st through the end of August 2009 home sales were almost identical to home sales numbers in 2008. The difference, is in the type of homes that sold.

The average sold price for Cache Valley Homes in 2009 was down 6.28%. The median home sold price was down 4.52%. This doesn't necessarily mean that home values are down this much, what this shows us is that the lower priced homes are the ones selling.

I broke home sales down into four categories typical for Cache County Homes. These are generalizations, and just categories put together by price. Homes less than $120,000, I considered Low End Homes. Homes for Sale between $120,001-and $180,000 are Starter Homes, $180,001-$250,000 are Moderate Homes, $250,000-$400,000 are classified as High End Homes, and Homes above $250,000 I classified as Luxury Homes.

This year home sales of the "Low End" and "Starter Homes" were up by about 10%. Many of these home sales can be attributed to the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. Home Sales for All other price ranges was down. Only 3% of the homes that sold during the summer were "Luxury Homes," however, nearly 12% of the active Logan Home Listings are in the Luxury Home price range. This represents a huge surplus in the Luxury inventory.

As you can see, from the current homes for sale in Cache Valley, there is a much smaller piece of the pie for the Low end and starter homes compared with the homes that have sold during 2009.

If you are ready to buy or sell a home in Cache Valley, contact a Cornerstone Real Estate Agent today.

Logan Real Estate Sales Up in August

2009-09-01T15:10:00.001-07:00

August was the best month for Logan Utah Real Estate in more than a year. 112 Cache County Homes have already been marked as sold on the MLS. Year over year August Home Sales are actually up by 6.25% compared with last August.

In addition to a rise in home sales, we have also seen a decline in the number of homes for sale. There are currently 780 homes for sale in Cache Valley. At August's sales pace, Cache County has less than 7 months of active inventory.

This is good news for Cache Valley Home owners. The reduction in inventory will help home prices to stabilize.

Good Time for Home Buyers - Herald Jouranal Article quotes Cornerstone

2009-08-28T11:53:00.001-07:00

Good news for buyers

Cornerstone Real Estate was quoted in the News as the Logan Utah Real Estate Market Experts. Funny thing is that this article took one stat from the FFHA and made false assumptions that Logan's home prices were up. That just isn't reality. That stat was taken from Mortgage Loan Values as well as Home purchases during the second quarter. The actual price of homes sold was substantially down in Logan, not up. If you bought a home a year ago and are planning on selling now, don't expect to get more than you bought for (unless of course you got a screami'n deal).

tags: logan, herald journal, buying
- Buyers of relatively inexpensive houses like the Knights are helping keep Logan’s housing market moving, said Ben Brown, owner of Logan-based Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals. The cheap stuff is getting snapped up, he said.
  
  “First-time home buyers are what drives any market,” said Brown. “The government hit it right on the nose with incentives. In our market it’s worked extremely well.”
- According to data from the Multiple Listing Service, the average sale price of a home in the Logan area in June 2008 was $193,919, while in June 2009 it was $174,894 — a 10 percent drop. Sale prices were about 6 percent lower in July 2009 than in July 2008.
  
  Speaking of the lower-than-$200,000 market, Brown said, “It’s just recovered quicker and never dropped as severe” as higher-end housing.
  
  Sales of homes in the $300,000 to $400,000 range remain slow, said real estate agent Alan Barker, contributing to a flood of available properties. The approximately 850 houses on the market in June was double the number in the summer of 2007.
  
  Sales the first few months of the year were off 20 to 30 percent lower then in 2008. Activity picked up in June and July when about 200 homes sold. Still, the inventory backlog is seven to eight months, Brown said — not as bad at the 12-month inventory of a few months back but still significantly off the four to five months of a normal market.
  
  “There’s still enough inventory that prices aren’t going up anytime soon,” said Barker. “It’s good news for buyers.”
  
  It is still great news for buyers. I predict that the housing market will continue to move and inventory will decline through November. I think real estate this winter will be very slow though, especially with the end of the first time buyer tax credit November 1st.

Mortgage Rates Will Likely Rise by the End of the Year

2009-08-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

For most of the year, mortgage interest rates have been at their lowest ever. One of the main reasons they've been so low is because the Fed was buying Treasury bonds. At the latest Federal Reserve Policy Meeting, this is what they said:

Recession Ending, Rates Left Alone

The Feds efforts to artificially reduce mortgage rates will end in October. This means if you want a sub 6% interest rate, you'd probably better act quickly.

tags: mortgage, interest rates
- The Fed said, “Economic activity is leveling out.” It added that it expected inflation would remain “subdued for some time.”
  
  The Fed said it will keep the short-term key interest rate near zero, but it will end its program to buy $300 billion worth of Treasury bonds by the end of October. Buying bonds was one of the Fed’s efforts to drive down the cost of home mortgages.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Active Cache County Listings down to 808

2009-08-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

The number of active listings of homes for sale is dropping steadily.
We're now down to 806 active homes for sale in Cache County, down 50
homes since the peak less than a month ago. Less inventory is
essential for pricing stability. This is good news for home sellers
and real estate owners in general.

While the number of home sales is rising, the number of homes requiring short sales has risen. There are now nearly 40 short sale homes in Cache Valley.

July Home Sales Down for Cache County

2009-08-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Real Estate in Cache Valley saw a slow down in July compared with June, and year over year sales were down by 27% compared with July of last year.

The good news is that it looks like active inventory may have peaked and is on its way down. There are currently 833 home listings in Cache County including: Logan Utah Real Estate, Providence Utah Real Estate, Smithfield Utah Homes, Hyrum Utah Real Estate, Nibley Utah Real Estate, Hyde Park Utah Real Estate, Richmond Utah Real Estate, Lewiston Utah Real Estate, and the other outlying towns in Cache Valley Utah. At one point during July there were 855 residential listings for sale.

Despite the fact that listings are down, there are still too many for a healthy real estate market. At July's sales pace, Cache County has more than 9 months of inventory.

Prices of Cache Valley Real Estate have also declined. The average price of homes sold during July was $181,135, down 5.77% from July of last year. The median July sold price was $170,500, which is actually the highest single month median this year. The average home sold at $81 per square foot.

June Cache Valley Home Sales Up

2009-07-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

June was the best month for home sales in Cache County Utah in nine months. Nearly 100 residential properties sold. Home sales were up by 26% compared with May, and even up 6% compared with June of last year. This is the first time Cache Valley year over year sales have improved in 2009.

While home sales are up, prices are down. The average price of homes sold in June was $174,894. Down nearly 10% from the average sold price a year ago. Cache Valley Homes sold for an average of $81 per square foot.

Home sales are improving, but there are still too many homes for sale in Cache Valley for prices to appreciate. There are currently 845 residential listings on the for sale on the MLS. This is nearly twice as many homes as there were just two years ago.

Logan Duplexes Didn't Sell During the First Half of The Year

2009-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Like most Cache County Real Estate, multi family property sales are down this year.

In fact, duplex sales during the first six months of 2009 are almost non existent despite the fact that rents are up. Only 6 duplexes and 5 fourplexes sold between January and June. Duplex sales were down by nearly 79% compared to last year.

There are currently 14 duplexes, 7 triplexes, and 28 fourplexes for sale in Cache Valley.

2009 Cache County Land Sales

2009-07-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Half way through 2009 it is clear that demand for Cache Valley Land is way down.

For all parcels of land, sales are down 58.44% compared to the first six months of last year. For residential lots on less than half an acre, land sales are down 42.86%. Prices of the residential lots selling is significantly down as well. The median price of lots less than half an acre sold for $48,950, down 11.4% from last year.

Expect land prices to continue to drop. There are currently 209 residential lots listed for sale in Cache County on less than half an acre. This doesn't include the hundreds of available lots that aren't listed. At the rate lots sold in the first half of the year, Cache County has more than 5 years worth of listed inventory. Until things drastically change, only the most affordable land will sell. If you're looking to buy land, don't be afraid to offer low.

Cache County Home Sales down 25%

2009-07-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

2009 is half way over. Home sales in Cache County are clearly down. Over the past six months sales of Cache County Houses are down 25.16% and Condo sales are down 24.56%. Average and median prices of homes are also down. The median sales price dropped by 5% and the average sales price was down 6.73%.

One interesting disparity is the difference between home sales more and less than $200,000. While homes priced less than $200,000 were only down 15.54%, home sales for prices above $200,000 were down by more than 41%. Home sales were also significantly down in Wellsville, not because Wellsville is less popular this year, but because most of the Wellsville Homes for Sale are too expensive.

Logan Short Sales on the Rise

2009-07-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

It looks like the number of Short Sale Homes in Cache Valley are on the rise. There are currently 38 active properties in Cache County listed on the MLS that require bank approval. Just two months ago there were just 25. With 848 active residential homes for sale in Cache County, 1 in every 23 homes for sale requires a short sale. Compared with the rest of Utah, this number is actually very low.

Buying Utah short sale homes can sometimes be a great way too get a deal on properties. It can also be a huge hassle and waste of time you could be spend buying other homes for sale.

New Housing Stimulus for Utah? There Might Be a New Home Run Grant

2009-07-01T13:24:00.001-07:00

Utah Lt. Gov. Herbert eyes boost for housing - Salt Lake Tribune
- Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert said Tuesday he is considering a second round of state stimulus to the housing market, similar to the $6,000 Home Run Grant incentive to homebuyers that helped generate $376.7 million in home sales in the past three months
- The specifics of the new stimulus program are still being worked out
- one possibility the group is considering would be a smaller grant that could be given to more people and could potentially include the purchase of existing homes.
- Another option would use state funds to provide an advance on the $8,000 federal tax credit to first-time homebuyers, who would then have to repay the state when the federal money arrived.
- The Home Run Grant Program, proposed by Huntsman and approved by the Legislature earlier this year, used $10 million in federal stimulus money to entice prospective homebuyers into purchasing a never-lived-in home.
- An economic analysis of the program projected that it would create more than 7,200 jobs, generate nearly $240 million in wages and $20 million in property taxes.

827 Homes

2009-06-13T23:08:00.001-07:00

There are now 827 residential listings for sale in Cache County.

May Home Sales Down for Cache County

2009-06-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, home sales in Cache County declined in May compared with April. There were just 73 homes sold that were listed on the Logan MLS. This is also down 38% compared with May of last year when 118 residential homes sold.

The median price of homes sold during May was $165,000, the average sold price was $180,114. A large percentage of home buyers right now are first time buyers, and they are purchasing the more affordable homes. Overall, for the homes that are selling, prices have been fairly stable in Cache Valley.

Cache County currently has 816 residential homes for sale. The median list price of these homes is $209,000 and the average list price is $265,366 far more than the average prices homes are selling for.