Salt Lake City home sellers drop asking prices

More than twice as many home sellers in Salt Lake City dropped their asking prices in May 2022 compared to last year, according to an analysis by Redfin released in late June.

Details: Housing experts say it's largely due to the rise in interest rates.

• About 46% of Salt Lake City home sellers dropped their asking prices in May. That number was closer to 19% a year ago.
• Three Utah cities — Provo, Salt Lake and Ogden — were among the top 10 U.S. metros to see the highest share of home sellers decreasing their asking price.

Between the lines: Those cities were also among the top five where home prices increased the most amid the pandemic.

• Dejan Eskic, a senior fellow at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, said the price increases was partly due to a large number of Utahns reaching first-time homebuying age (32-34 years old), coupled with historically low interest rates and more people moving to the state.

What they're saying: "Interest rates rose dramatically within a matter of [a] few weeks," said Eskic. "That really priced a lot of people out in the market."

The bottom line: The average median sales price for a Salt Lake City home in May 2022 was $580,000, Eskic said. It's almost a 26% increase ($460,000) compared to a year ago.

Yes, but: Although more Utah home sellers are slashing their home prices, it doesn't mean the state's housing marking is cooling down.

• "Yes, it's slowed down, but I wouldn't say that it's cooling," he said. "Demand is still there."