Home sales are up, prices aren’t.

A report released Thursday by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors shows that the Wasatch Front’s housing recovery has yet to extend to home values.

In Salt Lake County, 2,330 single-family homes changed hands in the fourth quarter, up a hefty 18 percent from 1,972 sales in the same three months in 2010, according to a report released Thursday by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors.

Rising home sales are a sign of recovery in the housing sector, and the latest results represent the highest level of single-family home sales for a fourth quarter in four years.

"We’ve seen a noticeable increase in activity," said Dave Frederickson, the Realtors group’s president-elect.

But another key component of a housing recovery — home prices — still aren’t budging upward in most areas in Salt Lake County and elsewhere along the Wasatch Front.

Median selling prices throughout Salt Lake County fell to $193,250 in the fourth quarter, down 10 percent from $215,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010. The same pattern of increasing home sales and declining home prices was evident in Utah, Davis, Weber and Tooele counties.

Sales in Davis were up nearly 22 percent, while median selling prices were down nearly 4 percent. Utah County’s home sales were up nearly 18 percent, while prices year-over-year were down nearly 6 percent. In Weber County, sales increased more than 19 percent; prices were down nearly 8 percent.

Tooele County had the largest decline in home values, at nearly 18 percent, even as sales were up more than 23 percent.

The Salt Lake Board’s report was released on the same day as the Commerce Department said new-home sales fell last year to 302,000, down from 323,000 in 2010, making 2011 the worst year on records dating back to 1963. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy.

Although sales along the Wasatch Front appear to be stabilizing, many economists expect that prices won’t bottom out — that is, stop falling — until later this year. And that’s if Utah’s economy continues to improve and mortgage rates remain low.

So far, so good. Businesses in the state have been creating jobs at a rate that’s among the top five of all states. And Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages was 3.98 percent this week, while 15-year mortgages averaged 3.24 percent.

"Mortgage rates are unbelievably good," said Frederickson. "It just doesn’t get much better than this."

Still, ithere is a lot of unsold housing inventory in the state to work through. Banks also are saddled with high levels of foreclosed properties. It’s tougher to get a home loan than it was during the boom. And more than one-quarter of homeowners owe more than their homes are worth — or are close to that point — and are in no position to buy a move-up home.

As a result, even though demand among homebuyers has picked up, there’s still a lot of supply.

"Higher home sales and lower home prices is a pattern we’re going to see for at least another six months," said Salt Lake City economist Jeff Thredgold, a consultant to Zions Bank.