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ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- Foreclosures and short sales are driving around 70 percent of property sales around St. George in southern Utah, real-estate officials say.
The redrock town near national parks and wide-open public lands has been battered for nearly two years by a recession that put a halt to rapid development with some speculation.
Officials say sales of new and existing homes picked up in Washington County for a second month in May to 361 -- up by 51 sales over the same month last year.
But officials expect a dip in market activity this summer now that a federal tax credit for home buying has expired, followed by a slow recovery that could keep home prices low for two or three years before they rise again.
"The key there is that we stopped falling," said Allen Carter, owner of Southern Utah Title.
Some troubling signs remain. Washington County's foreclosure rate in May was 3.8 percent of outstanding mortgages, outpacing the national average of 3.15 percent and Utah's 2.16 percent, according to real-estate data company CoreLogic Inc.
Distressed sales account for about 70 percent of Washington County's home sales, Carter said.
That figure is even higher for the properties being handled by Kathy Nielsen, a real estate agent with Tolbert & Nielsen Realty Group and president of the Washington County Board of Realtors. Nielsen said 80 percent of her sales were distressed properties.
Carter said there is rough balance between buyers and the number of foreclosed homes, keeping inventory steady.
About 2,200 homes are listed for sale in Washington County, plus another 600 or more that are available but unlisted, he said.
Prices and mortgage rates are bottoming out, but those advantages will start to disappear in the next six to eight months, Carter said.
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Information from: The Spectrum
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
