Tooele Prudential Real Estate broker Vicki Griffith said even though the volume of home sales have slowed in Tooele Valley over the past year, the volume of residential land sales has not experienced as much of a major decrease. She said Tooele County?s land prices increased dramatically over the past 25 years, with the major increase occurring in Erda, where land is very valuable and primarily undeveloped.
?Twenty years ago, five-acre lots in east Erda were selling for $25,000, while 10 years ago they were $50,000,? she said. ?Now they?re going for a minimum of $250,000 to $260,000. They have gone up because people have continued to want to purchase land out here. We?re so close to Salt Lake and have plenty of water available.?
Griffith said she has seen a major jump in county land prices in only the past two or three years.
?Back in ?05 or ?06, a five-acre parcel in east Erda would cost only $85,000 to $125,000,? she said. ?Commercial land is also now going for around $5 to $6 a square foot, and back in ?05 or ?06 it was only $4.50 a square foot.?
Griffith said because land is still comparatively cheap in Tooele Valley, it will remain as a more attractive market for land buyers than the Salt Lake Valley.
?In places like Draper and Herriman, which are both part of our competition, you get quarter-acre lots for $250,000,? she said. ?You can?t really buy a five-acre parcel of land out there either. We have so much more land to offer out here, and I?ve seen most of the growth happening in Tooele County and not in Tooele City.?
Michelle Warner of Prudential Utah Real Estate in Grantsville said the volume of land sales is down, but prices are still relatively steady.
?For a while, land prices were doing nothing but going up, but now we?re seeing softenings and adjustments on prices just because it?s not as much of a buyer?s market anymore,? she said. ?People are having a harder time being able to afford a piece of residential land, and they are paying attention to all the national doom and gloom circulating in the news. Some landowners may still think they can sell their land for top dollar, but I think several of them are now willing to negotiate and drop the price a little.?
Warner said that now in Tooele County, a third-acre developed residential lot will start at around $79,500 or more, while a half-acre lot will start at $85,000 or more. She said that represents a significant rise over the past several years.
?In 2005, I sold two half acre lots in Grantsville for $50,000 each, which was considered top price back then, but now we?re seeing half-acre lots go for $89,000 to $100,000 or more,? Warner said.
Retired real estate broker Jay Kirk said he has seen commercial land prices stay steady over the past year, but that they have definitely gone sky high from what they were in recent years.
He said lack of good business location space could be a reason why land values have gone up.
?When you look at Tooele City?s Main Street, there is not much available to build on,? he said.
Warner said that because now there are not as many buyers as there were in the past, it would be wise for more landowners to lower their prices for potential buyers this year.
?I think more landowners will consider decreasing prices just because the market is still fairly quiet compared to how it was before,? she said. ?However, the interest rates are great and the economy is strong in Utah when compared to other states.?
dougrad@tooeletranscript.com
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