St George Utah Real Estate Information

Foreclosures in Washington County Utah

Posted at 2:00 PM, Aug. 1, 2008

The Spectrum reported on July 27 that the number of foreclosures in St George area had jumped 446% since last year. They said that that one in every 87 households in the St George area has received a foreclosure notice. How does this compare with other areas of the country?

The 2nd quarter of 2008 saw one in every 43 Nevadans receiving a foreclosure notice, the highest foreclosure rate in the country and 4 times the national average.

In California the rate of foreclosures is one in every 65 households, the nation’s 2nd highest foreclosure rate. Foreclosure activity in California increased 19% from the previous quarter and was nearly three time the level reported in the second quarter of 2007, according to Realtytrac.

With one in every 70 households receiving foreclosure notices, Arizona is the 3rd highest state foreclosure rate in the 2nd quarter.

Not far behind, Florida is the nation’s 4th highest state foreclosure rate in the 2nd quarter with one in every 78 households receiving a foreclosure notice during the quarter; more than twice the national average.

The top metro areas in foreclosures per household in the 2nd quarter of 2008 are:

1. Stockton CA, 1 in 25 households.

2. Riverside CA, 1 in 32 households.

3. Las Vegas NV, 1 in 35 households.

4. Bakersfield CA, 1 in 41 households.

5. Sacramento CA, 1 in 49 households.

While this downturn in the market is weighing heavily on those who are negatively affected, that is, those who are losing their homes, and those who need to sell their homes but are not in a distressed situation, it is a great time to buy a home if you are a first time buyer, a move up buyer, or an investor. The prices have softened since the boom in 2005/06 and the interest rates are the lowest they have been in years, plus Bush just signed a new housing stimulus bill which will give first time home buyers a $7500 tax credit.

The people who will be on the golf course bragging about all of the money they made in real estate five years from now, will be the ones who are taking advantage of the current market conditions across the country.

Is the end of the housing slump in sight? Some say that they expect the slump to last for a decade or more, and some are predicting that the end is right around the corner. The only thing that we know for sure is that there are buyers who want to buy, and sellers who want to sell, but the rules for the purchase and sale of real estate have changed. Lending practices have changed dramatically in the past few months. Buyers are being carefully scrutinized by Lenders and will need to be qualified in order to purchase a home, and sellers will need to be realistic about pricing their properties at current market value in order to attract buyers from making offers on their “distressed” competition.

So, are things really bad in the St George area real estate market? It really depends on which side you are on.

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Washington County Real Estate Statistics for June 2008

Posted at 1:55 PM, Aug. 1, 2008

There were a total of 240 properties sold in the Washington County MLS in June , which include homes, lots, commercial, and raw land. This represents 30 less property sales than the total in May which was 270. As of the end of June 2008, there was 26.3 months of inventory on the market.

Single family home sales totaled 158 in June 2008 compared with 198 sales in 2007. That is a 20% decrease in the number of single family homes sold. The price of the median home sold in June 2008 was $269,500 compared with $295,000 one year ago, which is an 8.6% reduction.

The number of building permits pulled so far this year are down dramatically compared with those pulled just one year ago. The average number of permits being pulled monthly this year are 54 compared with an average of 146 that were pulled monthly in the first 6 months last year. In 2005 there were a total of 3479 building permits pulled. If we continue building at the same rate, there will be a total of 648 new builds this year.

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