Most of the more than 100 properties in Utah where open houses are scheduled this weekend by Summit Sotheby’s International Realty carry a price tag of $1 million or more. In some cases, much, much more.
Like $16.5 million for a fully furnished six-bedroom, six-bath (plus two partial baths) “premier mountain estate” with an elevator, rooftop deck and adjoining lot in Park City built in 2018 next to four holes of the private Promontory Club’s Nicklaus Painted Valley Golf Course.
Among the less pricey luxury properties featured in this fall’s Sotheby’s International Realty’s Fall Open House Showcase on Saturday and Sunday are a $6.5 million “world class equestrian estate” in Heber City and a $1.86 million “private Cottonwood Heights estate”.
There’s also eight properties priced at $500,000 or less, including a Tudor three-story townhome in South Jordan’s Daybreak community for $430,000, a ‘well-kept townhome" in Lehi for $360,000 and a “beautifully remodeled” condominium in Millcreek for $244,000.
“Summit Sotheby’s International Realty represents sellers at all price points in all areas,” said Thomas Wright, CEO and principal broker for the Park City-based realty that also has offices in Salt Lake City, Draper and St. George. “That’s the beauty of it.”
Sotheby’s, an international network of real estate offices specializing in high-end homes that’s associated with the historic auction house, bills itself as “one of the world’s most recognized and respected luxury brands.”
Utah’s luxury housing market
For Wright, that means more than the size of the price tag put on a property.
“We define luxury as an experience, not a price point. We love working with people at all the price points because we give everybody a luxury experience, whether it’s a $500,000 home or a $5 million home,” he said.
But luxury listings are what Sotheby’s is known for in Utah. Along the Wasatch Front, that’s a home that costs at least $2 million, Wright said, while in southern Utah, the luxury price point is closer to $1.5 million. The Park City area is the highest, at about $3.5 million to $4 million.
“Utah’s luxury market remains strong,” Wright said. “The affluent buyers are still buying,” even as the state’s overall real estate market has slowed given high prices and mortgage rates topping 7% amid the economic uncertainty fueled by the ongoing war in Iran.
While Utah’s luxury housing market really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the outdoor lifestyle continues to attract well-off buyers not just from California, but also Arizona and Nevada and increasingly, places like the Denver and Seattle areas.
Many have been making Utah their primary residence, Wright said, citing a couple that bought a home in Sandy for just under $1 million and marveled “at how amazing it is to be able to go on a hike on Saturday morning up Big Cottonwood Canyon.”
What about affordable housing?
The luxury housing market, he said, benefits from more affordable housing in a state recently ranked as the 10th most expensive in the country. Wright, a former Utah State Republican Party chairman and candidate for governor, sees the housing market as a ladder.
“You want people to be able to go up and down the ladder without a lot of challenge,” he said, adding there are changes at the local, state and federal level that could help, including allowing high-density development and increasing the capital gains exemption on home sales.
“It’s a supply issue,” Wright said, adding that getting people into home ownership puts them in a position to eventually trade up, possibly someday to luxury-priced homes. “That’s the American dream.”
The open houses Saturday and Sunday offer a chance to tour luxury homes in person, although Wright advised checking the UtahOpenHouse.com site for specific times at each location and be prepared for access to be limited to only a few potential buyers at a time.