County home sales run 27.6% behind last October, with Draper still the county's priciest market

DRAPER — Salt Lake County had recorded 771 home sales for October against 1,065 in October 2025, a 27.6% decrease, on numbers that are still being reported, Salt Lake Board of Realtors spokesman Dave Anderton told the Deseret News 1. Anderton said the "gap will likely narrow" because October sales continue to arrive, and the board expects to release final October figures in mid-November 1.

The county's September numbers, the last complete month, pointed the same way: the median sale price was $550,000, down $5,000 from September 2025, and sales fell from 1,093 to 990 1. Statewide the trend ran the other way, with Utah's median sale price up 1.9% year over year to $530,000 in September, according to the Utah Association of Realtors 1.

Borrowing costs moved against buyers this fall. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey puts the 30-year fixed rate at 7.4% for the weeks ending Oct. 8 and Oct. 15, 7.32% for the week ending Oct. 22 and 7.24% for the week ending Oct. 29 2. The same series records 6.16% in the first week of January and a single week below 6% this year, 5.98% for the week ending Feb. 26 2.

Draper sits at the top of the county's price range. The board's Q2 and mid-year 2026 Municipal Affordability Tracking Report ranked Draper as the county's most expensive market, at a median single-family sales price of $925,000, and calculated that a household would need $259,641 a year to afford it 3. The same report put the countywide median single-family price at a record $645,000, requiring $186,827, and named West Valley City the most affordable municipality at $497,500 and $148,470 3. Its calculations assume a 10% down payment, a 6.41% average rate for April through June, and housing costs of no more than 30% of gross monthly income 3.

Those figures come from a different period and a different benchmark than the September countywide number: the municipal report covers second-quarter single-family sales drawn from UtahRealEstate.com, while the $550,000 September figure is the county median Anderton described to the Deseret News 31.

Nationally the squeeze looks similar. Redfin's data for the four weeks ending Oct. 25 put the median U.S. home-sale price at $389,601, down 0.1% year over year and the first annual decline in more than three years, while the typical monthly mortgage payment rose 10.7% to $2,786 4. Pending sales fell 15.9% over the same four weeks to the lowest level in records going back to 2021, and new listings dropped to their lowest point since the start of the year 4.

Draper's own reporting to the state describes the supply side of the problem. Its 2025 Moderate Income Housing Report counted 3,345 entitled residential units that had not received a building permit as of May 1, 2025, of which 362 had received will-serve letters from utilities 5. The report names economic uncertainty as "the primary obstacle to developing these units" and says that although inflationary pressure had eased, "interest rates remain elevated, which has dampened activity in the residential real estate market" 5. It also notes that in South Mountain, Suncrest and Hidden Canyon Estates, most of the easier lots have been built out, leaving steeper terrain that adds cost and complexity 5.

The Ledger reported in October that the board's mid-year affordability work had already put Draper at the top of the county on the income a household needs to buy, with every municipality in the county requiring a six-figure household income for its median-priced home 6.

What happens next is a number, not a policy. The board's final October sales data is due in mid-November, and it will settle whether the 27.6% preliminary gap holds or narrows as late closings are recorded 1.