Mid-year realty report bleak for condos, vacant land

(The Park Record) While real estate experts insist the bottom of the market is near, if not already past, the mid-year report from the Park City Board of Realtors shows sales were off through the first six months of 2009.

The Report

The board reported Friday that total real estate transactions in the greater Park City area, which includes Summit and Wasatch counties, totaled $317 million in the first six months of 2009, down about 50 percent in total sales compared to the same period in 2008.

The figure is down about 75 percent from the peak period of 2007.

Total transactions in the first half of 2009 fell to 403, down about 45 percent compared to the 731 in the first six months of 2008.

As a percentage of total volume sold, sales of single-family homes strengthened, making up 64 percent of all sales compared to 42 percent of sales in the same period in 2008. Condominium sales fell to 28 percent of the total volume in the first half of 2009 compared to 42 percent the previous year. Vacant land sales continued to decline.

Single-family home prices in Park City proper continued to rise, but again, board president Lincoln Calder said the numbers are skewed by low sales volume. The median sales price for single-family homes sold in the Park City limits during the first half of 2009 was $2.3 million, up 18 percent compared to $1.9 million a year ago. In the Basin, the median sales price increased to $729,000 in the first six months of 2009, up from $700,000 last year.

Original Article