Utah Resort Gridlock

Attention all market data junkies:

Here is inventory levels for a grab bag of Utah cities and neighborhoods. The Months of Inventory represents how many months it would take to sell all homes currently for sale at last months rate of sales if no other homes were to come onto the market. This gives you a rough estimate of whether you are in a buyer's or seller's market.


First off, notice that the suburban and urban areas are doing just fine. Higher levels of inventory than last year but nothing worrisome. Sales are chugging along normally.

Now, do you see anything shocking on this list (Hint: I made it BOLD and in RED)? I like Ogden Valley's 138 Months of Inventory! How outrageous is that?!

I can see the listing presentation now: "Mr. and Mrs. Seller, according to today's market, average sales time in your neighborhood is 11.5 years. Of course, if you are willing to pay the sellers closing costs and make a couple of repairs I can get your home sold in 11.3 years or less even. Now why don't you just go ahead and sign here at the bottom of this listing agreement and we will start marketing your home first thing tomorrow."

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Ogden Valley is the Resort counterpart to urban Weber County. Just as Park City is to SLC and Wasatch County is to Utah County. It appears from this table that the resort markets are in a major bind. Due to the jumbo loans in these markets and second home status of most of the properties, the resort market has ground to a halt as lenders have eliminated many of these products for the time being.

Again, this is a buyer's fantasy! Nobody could have foreseen this type of opportunity last year. If you are looking for a bargain in the resort market, now is your time to shop. Some of these homes are in foreclosure and great bargains are to be had. Banks right now are ready to negotiate and I have recently seen some take .40 cents on the dollar for distressed sales. If you are a buyer in this market, its time to start hunting for a bargain.

Let me know your thoughts about this and other topics.