Utah Real Estate Market 2nd in Nation

None by Janice Perry Gully

Sizzling Economy, In-Migration Fuel Rise

(KCPW News) While the housing market nationwide is going sideways or down, Utah home sales are still hot hot hot.

In fact, Utah's housing market has risen from last in the country to second place. Zions Bank economist Jeff Thredgold says homes have been riding the high tide of the Utah economy.

"The single weakest real estate market in the country in 2003 was Utah and since then we've seen the Utah economy bounce back with a vengeance," he said. "The single strongest state economy in the country right now is Utah."

In that hot economy, Thredgold says the state has added just under 60,000 new jobs -- for a 5 percent net gain -- along with the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

According to a report from the office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Utah home prices during the last three months are up more than 17 percent compared to the same period last year.

Thredgold says in-migration is helping fuel this rise. He says 40,000 new people are calling Utah home this year and he expects the same kind of influx next year.

But, he says, Utah is still playing catch-up.

"We didn't get the boom in housing prices in 2002, 2003 and 2004 that much of the nation did, so we're kind of catching up," Thredgold said. "We're now second by a slim margin to Idaho in terms of the last 12 months and I think we'll have a decent housing market in 2007."

Thredgold says he expects 2007 to bring another 7 to 9 percent increase in Utah home prices.

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