Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Bulging Out
Posted By Babs De Lay on November 25, 2020, 4:00 AM
If you haven't noticed, downtowns are becoming graveyards. People are working at home now, and there's no need for a commute when offices in high rises are closed. Homes with extra rooms for gyms and home offices are in high demand, and the rush away from cities is not just happening along the Wasatch Front but over the mountains in Tooele as well as in Park City, Kamas and Oakley.
According to redfin.com, the median price for homes in the Tooele Valley has gone from $253,000 to $300,000, and builders can't keep up with the demand for new homes. End-of-summer home sales in Park City rose by 62%. And high-end homes are being snapped up by rich buyers looking to escape from closed-down COVID cities around the globe. The Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service shows 14 Park City homes listed at more than $10 million. The highest-priced property for sale is in Deer Crest Estates on .64 acres with 13,500 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 10 baths and 15 fireplaces. Not only does it have direct ski access on Deer Valley's Mountaineer ski run, but a heated outdoor pool with a waterfall, an elevator, built-in golf simulator, steam and sauna rooms, home theater and 4,500 square feet of heated decks. On offer by Stein Eriksen Realty Group, its price tag is $17.9 million and has been on the market for over a year. Basically, you can't get into a home in the Park City-area for under $1 million, with the average price now being $2 mil. If you've tuned into The Housewives of Salt Lake City you may have seen some of the mansions owned by cast members, such as Jen Shah's Ski Chalet.
With a large multi-national business coming to town and Hill Air Force Base possibly getting a new weapons contract, Ogden is about to have a massive influx of new residents. Right now, you can still buy a small, humble, 2-bedroom home in Ogden in the low $200,000s. FrontRunner is a cheap transportation alternative if you want to live up north and work in the Capital City, or vice versa.
What does our future look like in the tri-city area of Ogden, Salt Lake and Provo? UTA and UDOT are working as fast as possible to get more stops and more services for commuters. Developers are looking beyond Eagle Mountain on the west side of Utah Lake potentially to put in massive housing or close-in commercial pig farms. In 2017, the Kem Gardner Policy Institute estimated that Utah's population reached 3 million in 2015 and is expected to reach 4 million by 2032, and 5 million in 2050. In 2019, Forbes magazine stated that the Beehive State is among the fastest-growing states in the nation. It's only logical that our cities are filling up quickly, and our only logical bulge is to the suburbs.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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