Monday, September 13, 2010

Better news for Utah

Utah’s foreclosure rate still less than U.S. rate: Utah is ranked 24th in the nation in foreclosures, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. For the three months ending in June, 3.4% of Utah homeowners with a mortgage were in foreclosure, compared to 4.6% nationally.

Utah is starting to add jobs: Utah added 17,200 jobs for the 12 months ended in July, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. The numbers represented a 1.5% gain, compared to flat growth for the U.S. Utah’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in July at 7.2%, compared to the U.S. unemployment rate of 9.5%, also unchanged. According to UDWS, “The worst of the recession appears to be behind Utah.”

Utah house inventory is coming down: In July, the number of active listings available for sale fell 4 percent compared to a year ago, according to the Utah Association of REALTORS®. Compared to two years ago, inventory was down 15 percent. The months’ supply of inventory in Utah also fell nearly 13 percent. In July, it would have taken 10.7 months at the current sales pace to sell the entire inventory of homes, down from 12.2 months a year ago and down from 12.9 months two years ago.