- Condo prices in the U.S. dropped 2.2% year-over-year in May, Redfin reported Tuesday.
- The Salt Lake City metro area saw a 4.2% decline, with prices at $352,000.
- Redfin reports the decline in prices comes from a seller-heavy market.
SALT LAKE CITY — Condominium prices in the U.S. have fallen, according to a new Redfin analysis.
The Seattle-based online brokerage found that the median sales price for a condo in the United States was down 2.2% year over year in May, to $354,100. The lower sales price comes as buyers are paying more for single family houses.
In the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the drop in the selling price is even greater.
In and around Utah's capital city, the median sales price for a condo tumbled 4.2%, to $352,000, Redfin reported in a post Tuesday, putting the price slightly below what condos are selling for nationwide.
The reason people are paying less for a condo?
"The condo market heavily favors buyers," Redfin declared in May, pointing out there were 83% more condo sellers than buyers. At the same time, there were 28% more sellers than buyers in the single family home market.
In Tuesday's post, Redfin said there are many condo owners who "are trying to offload their properties because HOA fees and insurance costs have been soaring, and some homeowners' associations are doling out hefty special assessments."
That's especially true in Florida, due to new regulations put in place after the deadly collapse of a 12-story condo building near Miami in 2021. "Florida is the epicenter of the condo slump, with prices and sales down over 30% in some areas," Redfin said.
The same issues motivating sellers are seen as giving would-be condo buyers pause.
Condo sales were down 11.9% year over year in May, according to Redfin, compared to a 3.7% decline in single-family home sales. Sales for both were at the lowest level for the month of May since 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began.
In the Salt Lake City area, there was a 22.4% decrease in the number of condos sold year over year in May, the 13th highest decline among the more than 60 major metropolitan areas nationwide that were analyzed.
Some parts of the country are seeing increased prices for condos, Redfin noted. New Brunswick, New Jersey, posted the biggest rise in condo prices year over year in May, 14.9%, followed by Montgomery County and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; San Francisco, and Ocean City, New Jersey.
Indianapolis, Indiana, saw the biggest gain in condo sales, up 27.3% year over year in May, with Portland, Maine; Charleston, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania's Montgomery County also showing double-digit increases.
Utah's condo market could be changing with a new focus by the state on building "starter condos," to provide more affordable options for first-time homebuyers, part of Gov. Spencer Cox's goal of adding 35,000 starter homes to the state by 2028.
So far, just over 5,000 starter homes have been built since Cox announced his "Utah First Homes" initiative in 2023, according to a statewide housing dashboard. That's despite some $300 million in public funds being set aside for loans to developers.
Utah officials are currently working to address issues, including those dealing with buyer financing, that for years have discouraged builders nationwide from taking on new condo projects.
