Park City, Utah - One Quarter of Real Estate Transactions Distressed

According the the Park Record:

About one quarter of all real estate transactions in Park City involve distressed properties.

That's not bad, said Deanna Devey of the Utah Association of Realtors. It's average for the state if not slightly better.

Foreclosure activity is definitely improving, said Park City Board of Realtors president Mark Seltenrich.

"They appear to be trending down, but remain historically high," according to the second quarter report summary from the board released July 22.

Devey said short sales account for 13 percent of all sales in Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber and Tooele counties. They are only 10 percent of sales in Summit and Wasatch counties.

"Comparatively, Summit County isn't doing too bad," she said via email.

Statistics that sound negative but are actually good news was a theme for the mid-year report from the board of Realtors.

For example, sales prices are way down all over Summit and Wasatch counties. That has increased both sales volume and dollar sales volume by more than 60 percent compared to the second quarter of 2009.

The title of the report summary was "Park City real estate sales continue to thaw."

With $543 million in real estate sold, board president Mark Seltenrich said this year compares almost exactly with 2008 as the market was coming off the peak and beginning its slow decline. But perhaps a better comparison might be 2003 or 2004, he said.

Since 2005 was when the boom began, an argument could be made that the 2010 mid-year numbers show the area returning to "normal," he said.