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Home prices along the Wasatch Front continue to rise as a healthier economy and other factors nudge more buyers into the market.

The median single-family home price in Salt Lake County reached $275,000 in the second quarter of 2015, up 7.9 percent compared with the same period the year before, a new report says. Two years ago, that median price was $25,100 lower.

Adjacent counties saw similarly robust gains, pushing the Wasatch Front median home price to $253,000, up 9 percent over a year ago. But the upward trend did not seem to markedly dampen second-quarter home sales, seasonally the highest of the year.

Home sales across the five-county metropolitan area shot up nearly 18.5 percent for the quarter, according to data released by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. A total of 8,461 properties sold— 1,318 more homes than sold in April, May and June of 2014.

Sales gains were even higher in Weber, Utah and Tooele counties, at 21.1 percent, 23.8 percent and 29.4 percent, respectively.

A confluence of factors is driving housing markets higher right now, according to Dave Robison, Salt Lake Board of Realtors president.

Interest rates remain low, by historical standards, amid predictions that rate hikes are coming. Job markets are improving. Homeowners sidelined from selling by depressed prices during the Great Recession are starting to list their houses. And a wave of new construction is bringing more contemporary and stylish dwellings on line, further enticing would-be buyers.

"You have a perfect storm of all of these things happening at the same time," Robison said. "There are way more buyers right now."

Several key numbers suggest that the supply of available single-family homes is tightening.

The number of days that homes remained on the market fell sharply in April, May and June across the Wasatch Front.

The average listing spent 51 days on the market in Salt Lake County, compared with 68 days a year ago. In Utah County, time on the market dropped by four full weeks to 51 days last quarter, down from 79 days the year before.

Condominium sales — often an option for buyers priced out of pursuing single-family homes — rose by double-digit percentages in four of the five Wasatch Front counties (only condo sales in Tooele County declined).

In Salt Lake County, neighborhoods in Copperton, Murray, West Valley City, Taylorsville and west and south-central Salt Lake City saw some of the biggest home-price gains, while prices in and around Holladay and Riverton fell slightly.

Homes in portions of Orem, Eagle Mountain, Alpine and Lehi led price gains for Utah County. Parts of the Cedar Valley and southeastern Provo suffered home-price declines.

Home prices in the Weber County communities of Huntsville and Eden went down in the second quarter, while properties in Riverdale, Marriott-Slaterville and South Ogden were that county's biggest gainers.

Davis County's biggest winners were Syracuse, Centerville and Clearfield. The only cities where prices faded were Farmington and Kaysville.

Prices rose in the cities of Tooele and Grantsville in Tooele County; the only county areas with posted declines had sales volumes too small to be significant.

tsemerad@sltrib.com Twitter: @TonySemerad