asking price.
Giblin said the number of
foreclosures in the market has been a "huge wake up call."
"It was
hard to predict," he added. "We thought we were an island, a bubble in
the sky."
Regarding vacant land prices, Seltenrich said "we must
go through some pain to get to where we want to be."
Condominium
sales are likely not better because financing continues to be a
struggle, he said.
The total number of units sold is up from last
year, but except for the past two years, there has not been so few units
sold in over a decade even though there is more inventory in Summit and
Wasatch counties now.
Lastly, the Heber Valley continues to
experience the steepest sale-price declines and may not have bottomed
out yet, they said.
Overall, Seltenrich said the area's real
estate is, in many ways, still "bumping along the bottom of the market."
"We'll
be seeing a little appreciation this year, but it will be small," he
said.
Good in comparison
The board is not trying to
hide or spin these facts, the two said, because much of it is good news
when compared to the larger picture.
"The board tries to put that
positive spin on things, and obviously there are a lot of negatives, but
if we keep our noses to the grindstone and work together, the story in
2011 will be about pulling out and looking at the bright light at the
end of the tunnel," Giblin said at the end of the interview.
According
to the summary, total dollar volume in sales surpassed $1 billion
because a large number of units sold for reasonable prices. That has
only occurred six other times in history and is a 16-percent improvement
over last year. Unit sales were up 20 percent over 2009.
Vacant-land
sales were up 60 percent. Condo sales were up 22 percent. Single-family
home sales were up over 26 percent and comprised 46 percent of all
sales and 54 percent of total dollar volume, the summary said.
Property
values in many neighborhoods appear to have bottomed out and are
improving. There is reason to be optimistic about 2011, especially for
single-family home prices, Seltenrich added.
Foreclosures and
short sales continue to depress values, but the fact that they only
comprise one-third of the market means sellers have adjusted to the new
reality an important step to clear out inventory and to allow
appreciation to begin again, Giblin explained.
What happened in
the Park City real estate market in 2010 is simplified this way: prices
came down and people are buying, they said.
That's good news,
Seltenrich and Giblin said, because it speaks to the desirability of
Park City real estate.
According to the National Association of
Realtors, the number of sales in the West at the end of the year was
down 1.5 percent.
According to Utah's Economy, a publication of
Commerce Real Estate Solutions by Jim Wood at the University of Utah's
Bureau of Economic and Business Research, the recession has so shaken
Utah families that there is little appetite for homes.
"The lowest
inflation and mortgage rates in 60 years, combined with 15 to 20
percent declines in home prices have done little to stimulate demand for
housing," the newsletter said. "The current weakness is due primarily
to a loss of demand."
Continued foreclosure rates in Utah which RealtyTrac.com has called some of the
highest in the nation are only making it worse, it said.
But
when the price is right, people are jumping on Park City real estate,
Seltenrich and Giblin said.
"Prices are down, but not down that
much," Seltenrich said.
Looking at graphs tracking the past 10
years, he would compare current sale price averages with the end of 2006
and early 2007 near the peak.
It also appears that the number
of foreclosures in Summit County is in decline, the summary said.
Almost
400 more properties would need to sell in 2011 than in 2010 to get out
of the units-sold slump, but the record set in 2005 was an anomaly and
unsustainable, Seltenrich said.
Historically, Park City real
estate appreciates at a five-to-seven-percent annual rate. There was a
major dip around the time of the 2002 Winter Olympics; there was a steep
increase in the middle of the decade, and then a sharp decline the last
two years. But where Park City was in 2010 is really close to where it
should be excluding the extreme peaks and troughs, he said.
"We're
going in the right direction," he added.
Years from now,
Seltenrich predicts, people will not look back on 2010 and 2011 as a
dark period, but years of opportunity when they should have taken
advantage of low prices and low interest rates.
by Andrew Kirk OF THE RECORD STAFF : The Park Record
For More Information on Park City and Deer Valley Contact:
Michael Lapay
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Mobile: 435-640-5700
Toll Free: 888-410-7653
mlapay@pureparkcityrealestate.com
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