Utah Starter Home Values Down 3.2% Homes Over $700K Are Up 11%.

Utah's home sales are up this year, but the headline hides the real story. Through the first half of 2026, 18,350 homes have sold, up 2.3% from the same stretch last year. That counts single-family houses, townhomes, condos, and twin homes together. On the surface it looks like a healthy, growing market. Look closer and it splits in two.

Almost all the growth is at the high end. Homes priced from $700,000 to $1 million are up 11.8% year-to-date. The $1 million to $3 million range is up 10.7%. Homes over $3 million are up 10.9%. Put those together and sales above $700,000 have grown more than 11%. The top of the market is doing the heavy lifting.

The bottom half is moving the other way. The $300,000 to $500,000 range is the biggest single price tier, about 40% of every home sold. Year-to-date, sales in that range fell 3.2%. Everything under $500,000 combined is down about 2.6%. So the most affordable homes, the ones a first-time buyer or a workforce renter could actually reach, are selling for less, not more.

Here is the other signal. Homes are sitting longer before they go under contract. The typical Utah home took 41 days to sell year-to-date. A year ago it was 36. That is five more days, a 14% jump. And it is not just one price range. Every tier slowed down. Even the busy luxury end is slower, with $1 million to $3 million homes now taking a median of 42 days, up from 35.

Sellers are giving back a little too. The typical home closed at 98.2% of its original asking price, down slightly from 98.4% a year ago. Small, but it points the same way. Buyers have a bit more room than they had last year.

If you own or rent out entry-level homes, demand is thinner at your end of the market. Fewer of these homes are trading, and they take longer to move. Price to sell, and do not count on a bidding war.

If you are buying in the move-up or luxury range, you have plenty of company. That part of the market is active. But even there, homes sit longer now, so you have time to negotiate. Offer below ask and be patient.

If you are selling anything, the lesson is the same at every price point. Pricing at todays market is important. Five extra days on the market usually means the first number was too high.

Utah's housing market is growing on paper, but the growth is all at the top. Luxury sales are up double digits while the affordable end shrinks, and homes everywhere are taking longer to sell. For investors, the workforce price range is where demand is softest right now. We will watch whether the slowdown climbs up the price ladder or the high end keeps holding.

_{Data sourced from Wasatch Front Regional MLS (RapidStats) Sold Listings by Price Range report, year-to-date through June 25, 2026. Includes single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and twin homes.}

Mortgage rates slipped again this week and now sit near a one-month low. The average 30-year fixed is 6.55%, down 0.07% from last week and down 0.10% over the past month. A year ago it was 6.82%, so rates run about a quarter point lower than last June. Adjustable loans cost less, with the 7/6 ARM at 6.22%, roughly a third of a point under the 30-year fixed. An ARM, or adjustable-rate mortgage, starts with a fixed rate for a set number of years, then can move up or down after that.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates tend to track, is sitting near 4.39%. It has eased over the past month, and that is the main reason home loan rates have drifted lower. The yield ticked up a touch this week on routine end-of-quarter trading, so do not read much into one move. If yields keep easing, rates have a little more room to fall. If they bounce back, this round of relief could stall.

Utah Headlines

Congress passed a sweeping housing bill that would bar big investors from buying more homes, but Trump just stalled it — The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would block investors who own more than 350 homes from buying additional ones and would raise FHA loan limits, but President Trump abruptly cancelled the signing this week as Utah Sen. Mike Lee holds out for a separate election bill.

Salt Lake City will require a business license for every short-term rental starting July 1 — The new rules cap licenses at one per small multifamily building (or 10% of units in larger buildings), require the owner to hold the property, limit stays to 200 nights a year, and fine violators up to $1,000 a week.

National Headlines

New-home sales fell 7.3% in May as prices and rates pushed buyers out — Sales dropped to a 580,000 annual pace, down 6.8% from a year earlier, while unsold inventory rose to a 10.3-month supply, well above the five to six months that marks a balanced market.

Apartment construction starts plunged 41.6% in May, pointing to less new supply ahead — Builders broke ground on multifamily projects at just a 284,000 annual rate, one of the lowest readings since the early pandemic, a sign the supply wave that has held down rents is finally thinning.

Single-family rental cap rates climbed to 7.4%, a 10th straight quarterly rise — Rates are now up about 210 basis points (2.1 percentage points) from their 2021 low, as investors price rentals for cash flow rather than appreciation, according to the Q2 2026 Arbor-Chandan report.

Rents are firming again, up 1.2% nationally in May after a long cooldown — That beats April's 1.0% and marks the first real acceleration since late 2024, though high-supply Sun Belt metros like Austin (down 3.9%) are still falling, per Zillow's rent index.

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David Robinson - Principal Broker | Investor