Mortgage Rates Hit a 52-Week High, Treasury Yields Highest Since 2007

The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute published its annual State of the State's Housing Market report this month. It covers 2025 through the first half of 2026.

The median sale price across all Utah housing types reached $520,000 in the first quarter of 2026, up 2.0% from $500,000 a year earlier. Single-family homes came in at $559,900, which is $9,000 higher than the first quarter of 2025 and the 10th highest of any state. Condos, townhomes, duplexes and twin homes went the other way, down to $405,000 from $410,000. Among Utah's 25 largest cities, Draper led at $911,500, up 19.3%. Five large cities fell, and Orem dropped the most at 8.3%, to $485,750.

Across the five most populous counties, the average asking rent for a single-family detached home rose 8.5% between March 2024 and March 2026, to about $2,518 a month. Townhome rent rose 8.3% to $1,905. Apartment rent fell 2.3% to $1,329 and now sits 8.8% below its June 2022 peak. A detached home rents for about 89% more than an apartment, and that gap widened by $228 over the two years.

The report ties the apartment decline to supply. Utah permitted 19.7% more apartment units from 2020 through 2025 than it did over the whole of the 2010s.

Washington County led the house-rent gain at 11.6% and the townhome gain at 13.0%. Salt Lake County was the slowest for houses at 4.4%, though at about $2,675 a month it is still the most expensive of the five.

Utah recorded 39,628 residential sales in 2025, up 3.3% from 2024, and single-family homes were 71% of them. Average days on market rose from 38 days in 2024 to 43 days in the first quarter of 2026, which matches the long-term average of 43. Builders pulled 26,053 residential permits in 2025, 4,087 more than in 2024. Single-family was 38.3% of those permits and apartments were 35.6%. Salt Lake County alone permitted 7,523 units, up 83.8% in one year, and 63.1% of them were apartments.

Average equity on a mortgaged Utah home reached about $304,570 in the first quarter of 2026, a record. Roughly 600 Utah homes owed more than they were worth at the end of 2025, against 58,995 in early 2013. Late payments rose to 3.23% in the first quarter of 2026 from 2.66% a year earlier, and foreclosures rose to 0.34% from 0.21%. During the 2007 to 2009 crisis those two rates peaked at 8.64% and 3.43%.

A buyer needs about $147,000 a year to afford the median Utah home with 10% down, down from $149,000 in 2025. That is the first drop in this series since 2016, when the same purchase took $58,000. The monthly payment runs about $3,669, more than $1,200 above where it sat in 2021, and about 91% of Utah renters cannot afford it.

The rental side improved at the top of the income range. Utah had roughly 108 affordable units for every 100 households earning 80% or less of area median income, up from 100 in 2023. Below that it thins out quickly, with 76 units per 100 households at 60% or less, 50 units at 50% or less, and six units at 30% or less.

Utah's rental market is paying owners of houses and townhomes and squeezing owners of apartments, and the permit counts say apartment supply keeps coming. Affordability remains a significant problem and doesn’t look to get better any time soon.

_{Data sourced from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, State of the State's Housing Market 2025-2026, September 2026. The five most populous counties are Salt Lake, Davis, Utah, Weber and Washington.}

Eight multi-unit properties closed across Utah between September 8 and September 14. Prices ran from $226,000 to $940,000. Six sold below asking, one sold at asking, and one closed just above. Seven were duplexes and one was a fourplex in American Fork that sold in seven days. Days listed ran from 7 to 139, and the three Ogden duplexes at the bottom of the table had all been listed since April.

Mortgage rates jumped this week. The 30-year fixed sits at 7.22%, up 0.33 from a week ago and up 0.51 over the past month. That is a new 52-week high and it is 0.97 above where the same loan sat a year ago. The 52-week low was 5.99%. Jumbo loans are at 7.38% and FHA is at 6.80%. The 7/6 ARM is at 6.69%, which is 0.53 under the 30-year fixed and the widest that gap has been this year.

The move came from the bond market. The 10-year Treasury crossed 5.00% this week for the first time since 2007, up 0.02 on the day and well above the 4.79% it held last week. Mortgage rates track the 10-year plus a spread (the extra a lender adds on top of that benchmark), so this is where the increase came from rather than from anything the Fed has done yet. Investor loans usually price 0.50 to 0.75 above the owner-occupied 30-year, which puts a rental purchase near 7.75% to 8.00% right now. Run your numbers again if you are under contract on anything with a rate lock that expires soon.

Source: Mortgage News Daily, rates as of September 15, 2026

Utah Headlines

Salt Lake City Hits Pause on a Zoning Change That Touches 40,000 Property Owners — The City Council delayed its vote by two weeks and will send notice to nearly 40,000 owners before it decides on the citywide housing amendment.

The Proposal on Hold Could Add About 5,000 Units on Land the City Already Has Zoned — Supporters put the number at roughly 5,000 new units, and the city's single-family median sale price has reached $565,000, up almost 8% over the year.

A Utah Brokerage CEO Wants Congress to Index the Home Sale Tax Exclusion — Thomas Wright of Summit Sotheby's argues in an opinion piece that the $250,000 and $500,000 capital gains exclusions, unchanged since 1997, would be $520,000 and $1.04 million today if they had been indexed to inflation.

National Headlines

The 10-Year Treasury Touched 5% for the First Time Since 2007 — The benchmark yield that sets mortgage pricing hit 5% before easing back, with traders waiting on this week's Fed decision.

Apartment Buyers Are Repricing Deals as Treasury Yields Climb — One sponsor watched rates move 75 basis points between contract and closing, enough to break a deal signed when the 10-year sat near 3.9%.

Existing Home Sales Fell to 3.98 Million as Listings Piled Up — August sales dropped 2% from July while inventory topped 1.6 million for the first time since November 2019, pushing supply to 4.9 months.

Markets Have Priced a Fed Rate Hike This Week at Better Than 90% — Redfin's economics team points to August core inflation at 0.29% against the 0.22% expected, while arguing the case for a hike is thinner than the odds suggest.

Manhattan Apartment Rents Lead the Country While Per-Unit Prices Fall by a Third — Rents grew 5.6% over the year through June while the average per-unit sale price dropped to $270,864 from $413,342.

Disclaimer: Canovo Group LLC is not a registered broker-dealer, investment adviser, or financial advisor. This email is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any securities or investment strategies. All investments carry risk, including the potential loss of principal. Recipients should perform their own due diligence and consult with their own legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. Canovo Group LLC it’s licensed brokers or agents do not endorse, guarantee, or verify the accuracy of any third-party information provided herein.