Utah Housing Market Report: September 2026

The biggest number in September is the one that predicts the next two months. Only 2,744 Utah homes went under contract, down from 3,748 a year earlier. That is a 26.8% drop, and it follows declines of 9.9% in July and 11.6% in August, according to the Utah Association of Realtors. There isn't a like-for-like national number yet: NAR's September pending-sales index comes out at the end of October. The closest is Realtor.com's count of all U.S. homes under contract at the end of September, which was down 4.1%.

The timing lines up with borrowing costs. Freddie Mac's 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.86% in September, up from 6.67% in August, and moved past 7% late in the month after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point on September 16. By October 15 the average was 7.40%, compared with 6.27% a year earlier.

On a $530,000 home with 20% down, that difference is real money: principal and interest come to about $2,936 a month at 7.40%, compared with about $2,567 on last year's $520,000 median at 6.27%. That is roughly $369 more every month for nearly the same house. UAR's affordability index fell to 73 from 79 a year ago, which means the median Utah household earns about 73% of the income needed to qualify for the median-priced home.

Fewer sales have not turned into lower prices yet. Utah's median sale price rose 1.9% to $530,000, and the year-to-date median is $525,000, up 1.0%. The national median from the National Association of Realtors rose 1.3% to $417,500, and the West slipped 0.3% to $613,600.

That puts Utah about 27% above the national median and about 14% below the West's. Utah buyers pay more than most of the country but less than buyers in the coastal West and in Denver, where Realtor.com's median asking price fell 4.9% from a year ago.

The average sale price rose faster, up 6.0% to $831,297, because more of the homes that did sell were at the top of the market. When the average climbs this much faster than the median, a bigger share of the sales are at the top of the market, which suggests rate-sensitive first-time and move-up buyers are the ones sitting out.

There were 17,528 homes for sale in Utah at the end of September, 3.6% more than a year earlier, and 4.7 months of supply. Nationally, NAR counted 1.60 million homes for sale and 4.8 months of supply. Utah's supply is now level with the country's. Six months of supply is the usual line between a balanced market and one that favors buyers.

Sellers are adjusting. In the Salt Lake City metro, 33.6% of listings had a price cut in September, the highest share of the 50 largest U.S. metros and the biggest jump from a year ago (up 6.9 points), according to Realtor.com. The national share was 20.8%. Statewide, sellers who closed in September received 96.1% of their original asking price on average. On a home that sells for the $530,000 median, that is roughly $21,000 below where it was first listed.

Homes took an average of 65 days from listing to accepted offer, the same as last September. New listings fell 3.9% to 5,104, so the extra inventory comes from fewer homes selling, not from a wave of new sellers.

Prices moved differently across the state over July through September. Utah County's median rose 4.6% to about $523,000, the strongest gain on the Wasatch Front, with gains in Saratoga Springs, Provo and Spanish Fork. Salt Lake County was flat at $550,000, and Davis County's median slipped 3.0% to $525,000.

In Southern Utah, Washington County's median fell 1.9% to about $510,000, and homes there took a median of 42 days to go under contract, longer than anywhere on the Wasatch Front. Iron County's median rose 9.9% to $420,000, though homes took a median of 60 days to sell. In the mountain resort counties, Summit County held near $1.58 million and Wasatch County's median fell 4.1% to $969,000. Sellers there are giving up more ground too: homes in both counties closed at about 96% to 97% of their final list price.

Smaller northern counties are still among the steadiest markets in Utah. Box Elder's median rose 5.3% to $440,000 and Cache County's rose 0.8% to $450,000, with homes in both going under contract in about a month.

This slowdown is about borrowing costs, not jobs. Utah's unemployment rate was 3.5% in August, below the national rate of 4.1%, and the state added 20,600 jobs over the year, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Distressed sales are rare (2% of September sales nationally, per NAR). With steady jobs, most Utah owners who don't need to move can wait, which is why the adjustment is showing up as fewer sales and more price cuts rather than falling prices.

Buyers: you have more choice and more room to negotiate than at any point in the last few years, especially on homes that have been listed for 60 days or more. Ask about a seller-paid rate buydown as well as a lower price; dollar for dollar, a buydown often lowers your monthly payment more than the same amount taken off the price. Check whether a listing has an assumable FHA or VA loan at a lower rate. Compare homes under $500K across Utah to see which areas still have options at your budget.

Sellers: price for the market you are in, not the one from spring. With 4.7 months of supply and a third of Salt Lake listings already cutting price, homes that start high tend to sit, and the longer they sit the deeper the eventual cut. A pre-listing home valuation based on what has gone under contract in the last 60 days, not what sold in May, is the best protection against that.

September's 26.8% drop in pending sales will show up as fewer closings in October and November, so expect closed sales to fall further from last year even if buyers return. The more useful signals are pending sales and price cuts: if rates stay above 7% and pending sales keep falling while inventory grows, prices are likely to flatten or dip into the winter. If rates ease back toward the mid-6% range, the buyers who paused in September are likely to come back quickly, because Utah's job market is still healthy.