Utah home appreciation rate not as bad as rest of the nation

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Andrew Adams reportingIn a bad year for the housing market, Utah is not as bad as everyone else when it comes to home appreciation.

According to a report by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, home values on average went up more than 9 percent in Utah from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarter of 2007. The report says Utah is No. 1 among all states in home-price appreciation.

But the rate of appreciation lagged quarter by quarter. Still, Salt Lake Board of Realtors President Jillinda Bowers is optimistic "It's not the end of the world. We just need to get busy and maybe work a little bit harder, and it's business as usual," says Bowers.

The next year doesn't look that bleak for home prices. She says, "They could drop 1 percent to 2 percent, but I don't see them dropping much more than that,"

Bowers says homes under $300,000 have sold well. There are a lot of $500,000 homes still for sale.

Nationally, Wyoming is No. 2 on the appreciation list with an 8 percent gain. According to the report, the national average is less than 1 percent.