A Look Back At The 2018 Park City Real Estate Market

Posted by Ben Fisher on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 11:29 AM By Ben Fisher / January 29, 2020 Comment

As we enter the 2019 season it is important to understand how the real estate market in Park City changed from 2018 compared to the previous year. We have seen a very healthy and active market for a number of years now but has 2018 proved to be the same as previous years? Let's take a look at some of the interesting numbers below to take a look at where we stand after another full year of data to review.

As you can see in the chart above we saw a slowdown in transaction volume in 2018 compared to 2017 with sales slipping 7% from the previous year. The exception to this would be the high demand for vacant land at the moment from many buyers deciding to purchase land and build instead of buying existing homes or condos. We've seen land prices appreciate significantly over the last few years as single family home prices continue rise throughout the greater Park City area. The good news is the demand has been pretty consistent since 2013 and falling within healthy and sustainable figures.

Overall sales volume continues to rise as price trends continue to increase from the bottom of the market in 2011. Total sales volume for 2018 increased 1.5% from 2017. Single family homes in Park City make up 55% of this transaction volume with condominiums at 35% of the market in terms of $ volume.

Another interesting figure to look at is inventory levels over recent years. This is something that is a noticeable increase from 2017 to 2018 in that we have a good increase in inventory throughout the market especially in terms of condominiums on the market. 2018 saw a 17% increase in inventory over 2017. Condo levels were up 26%, single family up 17%, and vacant land up 6% from previous year. You can see from the data above that these levels have remained fairly consistent over the last 5 years. With these increased inventory levels we are seeing absorption rates increase overall from 5.8 months in December of 17' to 7.9 months in December of 18'.

Overall we saw prices on average increase 8.8% from the year prior while transaction volume was down almost 7%. The feeling around the market is the things have slowed down or stalled a bit. The numbers somewhat support that with overall transaction count down and inventory levels increased. However, price appreciation has held steady from previous years to the 7%-8% range which is what we have been seeing since 2012. The above chart shows the aggressive pricing and transaction increases we saw before the last recession with numbers drastically jumping over a 2-3 year period. The previous 5 years have proved to be a much more sustainable trend to bring us back close to previous peak figures overall in the Park City market.