Salt Lake City tops another national list for its boiling housing market, this time overtaking even its closest competitor – Boise, Idaho.
And if you’ve been hoping the West’s wild real estate market may run out of steam in 2022, don’t hold your breath.
Realtor.com ranked Salt Lake City as the No. 1 housing market positioned for growth in 2022, predicting the metro to experience 15.2% year-over-year sales growth and increase 8.5% of prices year on year.
Salt Lake City is beating Boise’s forecast of 12.9% year-over-year sales growth and 7.9% year-over-year price growth.
That’s even though Utah and Idaho have already seen record years as the western housing market continues to rage. In Utah, experts have warned of a “severely imbalanced” housing market as demand continues to outstrip supply.
Here’s how the top 10 metro rankings rank:
- Salt Lake City, Utah.
- Boise City, Idaho.
- Spokane-Spokane Valley, Washington.
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana.
- Columbus, Ohio.
- Providence-Warwick, RI, Massachusetts.
- Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, South Carolina.
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellvue, Washington.
- Worcester, Massachusetts-Connecticut.
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida.
Utah governor not “excited” by ranking
Asked about the rankings Thursday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters he was not thrilled to see Salt Lake City topped the list.
“It’s actually not a ranking I’m proud of,” Cox told reporters. “It’s not a ranking that fascinates me. Because it puts extra pressure on families, which means people are being squeezed out. ”
As Utah home prices skyrocketed at an “unfortunate” and “unsustainable” rate, Cox said more Utahs were forced to travel to the outskirts of the Wasatch Front in order to afford a house. But even those more affordable places, the governor said, “are also going up, which means that at the end of the day you end up with more homeless people.”
Cox on Tuesday unveiled his budget proposal for next year, which includes spending of $ 228 million on housing initiatives. This involves around $ 100 million for affordable housing development and $ 128 million to develop very affordable housing for the homeless, including up to $ 20 million to help pay for the first phase of a small village. family being planned in Salt Lake City.
The hectic pace of the Utah real estate market and its impact on the people of Utah “is why we think these investments are so important,” Cox said.
The governor said his proposed budget is expected to translate into about 1,100 new low-income units across the state.
Housing Market Forecast 2022
Realtor.com has predicted a “whirlwind year” for homebuyers in 2022, projecting a competitive seller’s market as demand for first-time buyers continues to outstrip inventory.
“With listing prices, rents and mortgage rates all set to rise as incomes rise, 2022 will present a mix of housing affordability challenges and opportunities,” Realtor.com wrote on its site. “Whether the pandemic has delayed plans or created new opportunities to take a step, Americans are set for a blitz year of home buying in 2022.”
Realtor.com predicts that more sellers will enter the market as competition from buyers “remains fierce”, which will fuel strong growth in home sales and price increases. The site predicts that existing median selling prices will appreciate 2.9% and existing home sales will increase 6.6%. This growth will mean 16-year highs for sales nationwide.
Affordability will be more of a challenge as interest rates and prices rise, but remote working can broaden the search areas and allow young buyers to find their first home sooner than they do. wouldn’t have done it otherwise, “the site said, noting that more than 45 million millennials will be in the” early ages of first-time home buying from 26 to 35 in 2022. ”
While some housing markets are expected to see home sales decline, “those declines are likely to be modest,” Realtor.com said, and most other metropolitan markets are expected to follow the national trend and increase in 2022.
The site predicts that house prices will continue to rise, but at a more moderate pace than in 2020 and 2021. “The pandemic has triggered a frenzy in the housing market,” the site says. “A decades-long shortage, which meant the market was already short of 5.2 million single-family homes, has encountered an unprecedented surge in demand, just as many expected the opposite response to the uncertainty of the pandemic. . ”
As manufacturers struggled to keep up with high demand, it pushed up prices. In August 2020, the country saw a double-digit house price increase throughout the year. Realtor.com predicts that economic growth will support the purchasing power of home buyers, causing home selling prices to continue to rise.
But in 2022, Realtor.com predicts a “slower pace” as builders step up efforts and “homebuyers will grapple with higher monthly costs due to rising prices and rising mortgage rates. “.
“Affordability challenges will prevent prices from rising at the same rate we saw in 2021, even though current supply and demand dynamics mean prices continue to grow nationally. “
