With all the news going on about real estate lately, I have been asked, multiple times, if I am concerned about my real estate investments. My answer is always no. Utah is a great place to invest in real estate. Currently Utah is the envy of the rest of the country. The former Director of The Division of Real Estate for the State of Utah published a great article that gives a lot of valuable information to those of us that love and invest in real estate.
Reading or watching the news is rarely what one would call a positive or uplifting experience. Recent headlines are no exception. In fact, you might think the world is falling apart if you focused on the terms used to describe the real estate industry and housing market - words like crisis, deteriorating and collapse. While it is certainly true that many parts of the country are experiencing serious and in some cases even severe market adjustments, those doom and gloom headlines don't necessarily apply to our state.
So, while you may have read in recent news articles that "foreclosures are skyrocketing" you might be interested to learn the fact that in Utah the number of foreclosures actually decreased. Yes, DECREASED. Maybe it doesn't make for the kind of eye-catching headlines that reporters are looking for, but it is a fact nevertheless.
Here are some more facts you may be interested to learn (and may even surprise you when contrasted to recent headlines). According to economic data recently released for 2007, Utah experienced population growth of 3.2%, which equates to over 85,000 new individuals in our state. A telling sign for our economy is that over half of that 85,000 moved to Utah from out-of-state (anyone know of a good agent that could help find these people a home, or an appraiser, or mortgage broker?). The high number of move-ins is no wonder given that our state added almost 50,000 new jobs last year. Even though our economy has slowed somewhat recently, job growth for the end of December was still a healthy 3.6% (which is four times the national average). Pay growth in Utah for 2007 surpassed the national average at 5.5% and we had an extremely low unemployment rate of 2.7%. Given these numbers it is no surprise that Utah continually receives awards and accolades for our strong economy, including recently being named by the Beacon Hill Institute as "the most economically competitive state in the nation."
Besides the strong overall economic numbers, our state continues to post solid real estate numbers. Foreclosures are down and a recent quarterly report from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed Utah with the lowest foreclosure rate in the country for subprime ARMs. Like all things in the free market, real estate and housing rely on a healthy balance of supply and demand. With some of the lowest rates in recent history and real estate on the market, supply is not a problem. Based on economic estimates that Utah will add another 85,000 people to our state this year, we can expect continued demand.
That said, it would be ridiculous to ignore the fact that real estate markets have tightened somewhat, even here in Utah. However, the economic indicators in Utah remain strong and the best way to overcome some of the ‘psychological' factors contributing to the slowdown of sales in Utah is to continue to grow our economy, so that people feel assured that this is still a great time to buy a home and invest in real estate.
It's a great time to invest in real estate. Contact my office about all your Property Management, Real Estate and Mortgage needs. I'd be happy to discuss any questions you may have or strategies you may be thinking of to get started in real estate or to improve and grow your current portfolio.
Sources: "Utah Division of Real Estate News" March 2008.
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