The median sales price remained high in the Salt Lake City metro area in May despite a 3 percent year-over-year drop, to $196,879. There were 3.5 sales per Realtor, on average, in the 12-month period ending in May, resulting in $725,483 in average total dollar volume in sales per Realtor.

As in other metros on this list, Realtor membership has dropped in the past year. In Salt Lake City, membership fell 3.8 percent to about 5,000.

"In Salt Lake, many Realtors got out of the business during this four-year slump and quite a few overextended and went bankrupt, too," said Kevin Coyle, principal broker at SLC Homes in Salt Lake City.

"It's hard to make it on 100 percent commission unless you have help, a working spouse, a big nest egg to fall back on. Good money-management skills are needed,too.

"Being a Realtor got a lot more complicated over the last four years. There is so much more to know," he added.

The Salt Lake City market had the second-highest sales rate per population among the 10 metros: 1 sale for every 64 people. That can be partially attributed to a relatively high share of distressed sales.

Coyle estimated that about a quarter of current active listings in the area are short sales. The Salt Lake City area also has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation -- 1 in 108 homes received a foreclosure filing in the second quarter, according to RealtyTrac.

Nevertheless, the area's low unemployment rate (7.6 percent in June) and a rising population bode well for its future, Coyle said. The metro's 1.1 million-strong population is projected to grow 17.3 percent by 2020.

"(Salt Lake City) is growing fast and it's a young demographic, too -- think first-time homebuyers! And first-timers propel our real estate economy because repeat buyers have an opportunity to move up," Coyle said.

Seventy percent of his clients are buyers, he said, and of those, about half are first-time homebuyers, 40 percent are repeat buyers and 10 percent are investors.