Where does Salt Lake City rank in a list of the hottest housing markets?

SALT LAKE CITY — The once red-hot Salt Lake housing market has cooled down considerably.

So much so that Utah's capital city area ranked just 88th on a list of the nation's 127 hottest mid-sized housing markets at the start of the year, the research company Construction Coverage found.

That's down from a Top 5 ranking in 2019 and 2020. By 2022, Salt Lake had fallen to 35th and has continued to cool down, based on key indicators including prices changes year to year and the number of days properties stay on the market.

Now, there's only "moderate demand" in the Salt Lake market, according to data from more than 850 cities in 50 states, despite the nation's cooling housing market, especially in much of the Mountain West and South.

And among the states, Utah's housing market was deemed the 27th hottest nationwide. Topping that list was Connecticut, one of seven Northeastern states to make the Top 10. A New York state city, Rochester, had the hottest housing market of any mid-sized city.

The Northeast's densely populated cities make it harder to build, keeping supply low and prices high, the analysis found. Restrictive zoning laws in California, where San Francisco and San Jose were ranked the hottest big-city markets, are seen as having the same effect.

At the same time, places like Utah, Texas and Arizona that attracted huge numbers of buyers during the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer as appealing to buyers, the analysis found, citing rapid price increases along with rising mortgage rates and less working from home.

Why a pause in the heated market is 'OK'

No longer being high on the list of hottest housing markets is not a problem for Utah Association of Realtors President-elect Aaron Drussel.

The rush to buy homes in Utah during the COVID-19 pandemic "was like lighting a bonfire and then pouring gasoline on it. The market just went insane. I don't think anybody really expected that to happen," Drussel said.

The current cooler market is good for buyers, he said, especially when there's so much economic uncertainty over the impact of the war in Iran. Mortgage rates climbed for five straight weeks after the start of the war before dropping slightly after a ceasefire was announced.

"It shows that there's not as much ups and downs in our market right now, which I think we're OK with that for a little bit. We've had so much 'up' over the last couple of years," Drussel said, calling it a welcome pause.

It's providing "a little bit of time to let the market breathe, and letting buyers catch up mentally to get an idea of what they can actually afford," he said. "Right now, it is kind of nice because it does give a chance for buyers to come in and maybe even negotiate a little bit on price."

The hotter the housing market, the more competitive it is, favoring sellers over buyers.

"We already have affordability issues. Creating more affordability issues? I don't think anybody wants to see that right now," Drussel said, adding that when the market's "hot, the seller controls everything."

What could fire up Utah's housing market?

Data from the Utah Association of Realtors shows that as of Friday, the median sales price for a home in Salt Lake County was $544,900, a 5% increase over 2025. In Utah, the median sales price was $515,000, up 3%.

More homes were sold in March this year than last, but whether that trend holds through the usually busy spring home buying season remains to be seen, Drussel said, adding there are still many would-be buyers who remain hesitant.

But he said that could change if consumer confidence gets a boost from a big drop in mortgage rates, heating up the market. Rates are currently nearing 6.4% after briefly dipping below 6% shortly before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran.

"If all of a sudden tomorrow, rates dropped to 5%, we would see a very different market because of a lot of people who would step off the sidelines," Drussel said. "We'd no longer be 88th anymore. That's for sure. We'll move up the rankings again."

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