Tooele County's hot housing market cooled off considerably in 2007, impacting not only local home sellers but also the local real estate, construction and financial services industries.

Tooele County not only experienced a decline in total sales volume, but also a corresponding glut of unsold homes as the market failed to absorb excess inventory. According to a report done by housing research firm Metrostudy, there were 104 newly constructed single-family homes sitting vacant in Tooele County as of the end of September, compared with only 18 new homes sitting vacant at the end of September 2006.

Despite the lack of sales, the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service found that at the end of this year's third quarter, Tooele County's median home sales prices had risen noticeably compared to 2006, going up 13.4 percent to $189,950 in Tooele, and up 19 percent to $217,900 in Grantsville.

The county is experiencing what several other markets nationwide have been going through for several months -- a downturn the National Association of Realtors called the worst in 16 years. The weakening housing market has been dragged lower by the subprime mortgage crisis and tighter restrictions on lenders. The subprime crisis also hurt local mortgage and title companies and forced at least one, Alliance Capital Mortgage in Tooele, out of business.

Tooele's Re/Max Platinum Broker/Owner Dan Egelund pointed out that the housing market has always been cyclical and will surely bounce back.

"Lower prices attract more buyers, and if we were still selling homes for $169,938 like we were back in July of 2006, I'm sure we would go back up to the number of homes sold that we had back then," he said. "However, a family can still come out here and get a home for $73,000 less than a home in Salt Lake County."