Lower prices, superlow mortgage rates and a federal home-buying incentive of $8,000 helped boost home sales along the Wasatch Front in recent months, a new report shows.

More than 5,600 single-family homes in Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber and Tooele counties were sold in the third quarter, up nearly 4 percent from the same three-month period last year, the Salt Lake Board of Realtors reported Tuesday. The report focuses on detached properties and does not include condominium or town home sales.

During the same time period, median selling prices of existing homes in the five-county area declined 5 percent to $213,250, according to the report. Prices now are off 9 percent from the market's height two years ago.

Home Prices
Wasatch Front home prices since 1993 by zipcode
"As prices fall, sales are picking up," said Ryan Kirkham, board president. Like other Realtors, he believes the market has bottomed.

Many buyers say the mix of lower prices, favorable mortgage rates and a federal income-tax credit of $8,0000 are an irresistible combination.

Nate and Mary Daily, for example, had been renting, but about six months ago they decided the time was right to think about buying. They recently closed on a 1,300-square-foot home in Holladay.

The couple said they got a great price on their home and were able to get a home loan at 5 percent. The couple also qualifies for the $8,000 incentive geared toward first-time buyers and those who haven't owned a home in the last three years.

"I felt like this was the best time in a long, long time to buy a home," Nate Daily said.

The federal income-tax credit is available to those who close on the purchase of a new or existing home before Dec. 1 and meet certain criteria. Only those buying their first homes -- or those who haven't owned a home in the past three years -- qualify. (Utah also is offering an incentive worth $4,000 for those who buy newly built homes before the same deadline.)

Although the median selling price in Salt Lake County was down 6 percent from last year to $230,000, sales in Utah's most populous county still were off 1 percent from last year. Prices in Salt Lake County peaked in the third quarter of 2007 at a median selling price of $255,000; prices are now 10 percent off that high.

Prices were down between 5 percent and 14 percent in all five Wasatch Front counties in the third quarter compared to last year. But sales did increase on a year-over-year basis in two counties: Davis (9 percent) and Utah (14 percent).

lesley@sltrib.com