The April UtahRealEstate.com release covers the first four months of 2026. That gives a cleaner picture than any single month. Through April, single-family is stable, with prices firming up. The 2-4 unit small multifamily segment is in clear buyer's-market territory. The two segments are now running on different tracks.

Single-family closings totaled 11,945 in the first four months of 2026, up 4.4% from 11,440 in the same period last year. The year-to-date median sale price is $515,000, up 2.0% from $505,000. Average sale price is essentially flat, $659,624 vs. $658,089 (+0.2%). Days on market widened to 72 from 65 last year (+10.8%). Sellers received 96.7% of original list price, basically in line with last year's 97.0%. New listings are up 5.9% YTD (20,884 vs. 19,713). End-of-April inventory of 12,029 active listings sits at a 3.5-month supply, still inside balanced-market territory.

The small multifamily segment looks nothing like single-family. Closings totaled 122 statewide year to date, down 11.6% from 138 in the same period last year. The YTD median sale price is $582,500, down 12.7% from $667,500. Average sale price is $649,843, down 5.9%. Days on market stretched to 75 from 61 last year (+23.0%). List-to-sale held roughly flat at 94.5% vs. 94.9%. That is the most useful number in this section. The sellers who actually closed gave up about the same discount as a year ago. The price reset is happening at the list stage, not the negotiation stage.

April's snapshot data confirms the trend. Active inventory ended April at 269 listings, up 43.1% year over year. Months supply nearly doubled, from 4.4 to 7.7. Anything past six months is buyer's-market territory. New listings YTD are up 7.5% (301 vs. 280), so the supply build is real, not a one-month fluke.

The headline "all multifamily" numbers in MLS reports include 5+ unit deals. That segment is too small a sample to read on its own. Only 19 5+ unit deals have closed statewide year to date. The YTD "average" all-multifamily sale price jumped 13.4% to $882,127, but a handful of larger deals at the top pulled the average up. It is not a broad trend. Strip 5+ unit out and the 2-4 unit data is what tells the real story.

If you own a 2-4 unit and need to sell, do not wait this out. Months supply has climbed every year since 2023 and just hit a multi-year high. Price the deal where comps are actually clearing today (94% of list, not 98%) and accept the 2026 reality. The sellers who closed in the first four months gave up roughly the same negotiation discount as last year. That means the market reset is happening at the list stage. Get the list price right.

If you are a buyer with capital, this is the best entry window for small multifamily in three years. You have 269 active listings, sellers willing to negotiate, and 75-day average timelines to do real due diligence.

If you own single-family, you still have pricing power. YTD list-to-sale of 96.7% means buyers are meeting sellers near ask.

Single-family is up 2.0% on YTD median price and holding 96.7% list-to-sale. The 2-4 unit segment is down 12.7% on YTD median price, with 7.7 months of supply at month-end. We will be watching two things next month: whether 2-4 unit sellers move list prices in line with where deals are actually happening, and whether the closings rate (down 11.6% YTD) starts to recover.

_{Data sourced from UtahRealEstate.com Monthly Metrics, April 2026.}

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 6.54% this week. That is up 16 basis points (0.16 percentage points) from a week ago, reversing the brief slide from mid-April. Year over year, rates are 36 bps lower. The 7/6 SOFR ARM jumped 25 bps to 6.25%. That narrows the ARM-to-30-year spread to just 29 bps, slimmer than the 50+ bps discount that made ARMs more attractive earlier this year.

The 10-year Treasury yield sits at 4.368%, down 6 bps from the previous close and slightly below last week's 4.404%. Mortgage rates track the 10-year. But this week, rates moved up while yields drifted sideways. That means the spread (what mortgage lenders charge over Treasuries) widened. Expect mortgage rates to sit in the 6.4% to 6.6% range until the 10-year breaks below 4.2% with conviction.

Source: Mortgage News Daily/Market Watch

Featured Article

On May 4, Box Elder County commissioners unanimously approved the Stratos project, a massive AI data center campus backed by Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary. Branded "Wonder Valley," the project covers more than 40,000 acres in Hansel Valley, plus another 1,200 acres of state and military land. About 1,100 residents protested at the hearing.

At full buildout, Wonder Valley will produce 9 gigawatts of electricity from on-site natural gas. That is more than twice the electricity Utah uses as a whole state today. Phase 1 alone delivers 3 gigawatts. The project runs through Utah's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), which gives it special tax and permitting powers. Construction is targeted to start in late 2028.

Backers project 4,000 construction jobs, 2,000 permanent jobs, and up to $108 million in new annual local tax revenue. The pushback is real. More than 3,700 protests have been filed with the Utah Division of Water Rights. The protest is over a proposed conversion of 1,900 acre-feet of agricultural water rights to industrial use. A University of Utah air-quality professor estimates 9 gigawatts on natural gas would raise Utah's annual carbon emissions by more than 50%.

If this gets built anywhere close to full scale, northern Utah real estate looks different five years from now. The clearest play is workforce housing along the I-15 corridor in Brigham City, Tremonton, and up toward the Idaho border. Cache and Weber counties will pick up the overflow demand. If you own 2-4 unit or small multifamily north of Salt Lake, this is a tailwind. Rents and how fast units fill will move first in Box Elder. Salt Lake County numbers will follow.

The risks worth pricing in: construction does not start until late 2028. Water rights protests, lawsuits, and environmental review could shrink, slow, or reshape the project. Loudoun County in Northern Virginia is the clearest comparison for what happens when a data center cluster takes hold. But that boom took twenty years to fully play out. This is a long-term thesis, not a 2026 trade.

_{Source: Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 2026}

Utah Headlines

Salt Lake City Proposes 12.5% Property Tax Hike to Cover Rising Costs — Mayor Mendenhall is asking the city council for a 12.5% property tax increase in the 2027 fiscal year budget, citing a 45% jump in pothole materials, 23% higher firefighter gear costs, and reduced federal funding. Truth-in-taxation hearings begin May 19.

Wasatch County Releases 2026 General Plan Draft for Public Comment — The draft is open for public comment through May 22 and frames how Wasatch County will balance growth and rural preservation. The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute projects the county will reach 84,126 residents by 2065.

National Headlines

Fed Holds Rates Steady With 8-4 Dissent, the Most Since 1992 — The Fed held the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75% on April 29, the third straight pause. Four members dissented: one wanted a rate cut (Miran), and three opposed language in the statement that hints at future cuts (Hammack, Kashkari, Logan).

GOP Pushes Treasury to Index Capital Gains to Inflation — Republican senators want Treasury to peg capital gains to inflation. The $250,000 / $500,000 home-sale exclusion has not been adjusted since 1997, and NAR estimates 34% of homeowners now exceed the single-filer cap.

AvalonBay and Equity Residential in Talks for $50B Apartment REIT Merger — America's two largest apartment REITs are in early-stage merger talks, with combined market caps near $50 billion and roughly 185,000 units between them. A deal would create the largest residential REIT ever, a sign that big owners are looking to combine as multifamily rents and demand weaken.

Housing's Share of GDP Falls Below 16% for the First Time Since 2019 — Housing's share of the economy slipped to 15.9% in Q1 2026 from 16.0% in Q4 2025. Residential investment subtracted 31 basis points from GDP growth, the fifth straight quarter of negative drag and the biggest hit since Q4 2022.

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David Robinson - Principal Broker | Investor