Utah once saw its home values topping the charts with some of the highest appreciation values around the nation. That was back in 2006. Property values in some of Utah's most sought after locations are seeing their biggest depreciation now in 2008.
Just like much of the nation, home owners are filing foreclosures at a greater rate than ever before. St. George once saw the highest growth rate in the county; it now sees the highest home depreciation in Utah. Single family homes have depreciated as much as 44 percent in value compared to figures from last year.
New construction for projects that started less than a year ago is more often being abandoned. Throughout the state there are abandoned construction sites and houses still in their skeletal state as building crews are told to hold off while the investor finds new funding resources.
The abandoned property construction is often seen as blight for cities. Sugar House, a trendy district in Salt Lake City, has a large "hole" in its old boutique shopping area located at 2100 South and 1100 East, dug out for future structure foundation.
The investor, Craig Mecham, originally was to build mixed-use structures with commercial retail and condo housing. Now his investors have backed down due to the climate of things so building was stalled. He was later ordered by the city to have building plans by January 1st of 2009 or else.
In another tale of Utah investment property gone wrong is the Cottonwood Mall project, located in central Salt Lake Valley.
General Growth Properties, the new investors of the Cottonwood Mall property, is trying to stave off bankruptcy right now. Now is not the time to finish a big project but they have a whole city waiting on their completion of the new mall - a replacement for the old Cottonwood 60's era mall that they tore down. Right now Caterpillars and a large gravel lot, several football field sizes large, are all that are there.
General Growth is the nation's second largest mall builders who are hurting from the heaps of debt brought by soured funding after the start of the big lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were salvaged by the U.S. government.
It's like this everywhere in the U.S. but using Utah as a benchmark - a state known for its fiscal conservativeness - it really puts current investment in perspective. But not all is doom and gloom.
Currently Utah's governor, Jon Huntsman has bonded 400 million with the Utah Housing Corporation. This goes along with the around-the-board budget cut he is proposing with planners for 2009. If there is any state that can weather a recession, Utah will be one to look to for ideas.
About the Author:
Offering the highest quality of service and competitive intelligence, NAI Utah (http://naiutah.com/) is a leader in
Utah investment property. The author, Art Gib is a freelance writer.
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Date Published :
Dec 17 2008