The Utah Housing Market has fully recovered!

The Nation’s economy and housing market have steadily been improving over the last quarter and Utah’s economy and housing market is no exception….

According to Jim Wood, director of the University of Utah’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research at a recent 2014 Housing Forecast breakfast earlier this month - The Utah Housing Market has fully recovered!

Single family homes were up 5% for 2013; with Sandy and West Jordan as the next big housing market areas this year making almost 11% of the market share. Last year sales in these two areas were up almost 7% and 11% - up almost 52% for 2013.

“In the last couple of years, Utah County has had remarkable employment growth which has helped to boost home sales, particularly in the north end of the county,” he said. “In contrast, the recovery in Weber County is lagging well behind the other counties.”

Foreclosures have also declined throughout the area. “The number of mortgages 'underwater' in Utah has improved markedly with the increase in housing prices,” Wood said. “Two years ago, Utah ranked 13th among all states in the share of mortgages that were underwater, as 1 in 5 mortgages had negative equity.” By the end of December 2013, Utah dropped to 34 with just 8% of the state in troubled mortgages.

Wood said the Salt Lake areas’ home price increase would be between 5% to 7% as economic conditions continue to improve.