Statistics for St. George (Washington County) Real Estate

Our absorption rate in the past year has gone down from 14.5 months last October to just over 11 months today, Sept. 12, 2010. It has been a continual decline and that is good news, there are less homes on the market than a year ago and the days on the market has declined. Sales are up. These are all factors that decide absorption rate. We have seen a steady decline in Notice of Defaults in the county in the past three months and are hoping this is also indication of a positive trend in the local market. Days on market has gone down from 143 a few months ago to DOM 126. All price brackets have seen an increase in the number of sales with the largest increase in the $50,000 - $60,000 range seeing an increase over last year of 580% - that tells me that there are a lot of first time home buyers that took advantage of the tax credits and investors buying rental property. But it also is a strong indication of the offers coming in low and banks accepting those offers. Homes in the $200K- $250K range had a 13.8% increase over same time last year. There are 6,723 active listings on the Washington Board MLS which is a small (3.8%) decrease over last year. The AVERAGE SALES PRICE this year to date is $204,643 compareds to $235,258 for same time last year a decrease of -13.01% Even thought we are seeing a lot more activity we are still not out of the woods. I believe we are looking at another couple of years before we start to see an increase in values and that will depend greatly of government controls, interest rates staying low, the job market improving, and many other factors.
Now if you want to get complete listings for the Washington County Utah area, you can create your own portal website here http://www.mlsfinder.com/ut_wcmls/leannwalters/index.cfm?action=userlogin - it's private, easy to use, and no obligation search!!

Today in St. George

#Washington County Economic Development Council - After four long months finally got the deal done with #Litehouse! Food manufacturer Litehouse Inc. will build a new facility in the southern Utah city of Hurricane – an expected investment of more than $10 million that will add 162 new full-time positions in the rural community. This is great news for realtors! We love to see new business come to town and Hurricane will be a great location for them. Good Job #WCED!

Statistics for St. George (Washington County) Real Estate

St. George Real Estate is alive and well. At the current date we have 2454 active listings in Washington County, that is residential and does not include multi-family unit. There are 370 pending contract at present and there have been 268 closed properties since the first of 2010. The average days on market for residential property is 141 days, so see folks, even with the market rebounding a little, we are still seeing a long wait for the banks to make decisions on these short sales and that is the big reason why the number is so high. Also there is a lot of competition and buyers are taking their time in deciding. But I want to warn buyers here because I have also seen this attitude backfire on many buyers; they think they have time and so a bank owned property comes along that is a great price and they want to think about it and it is GONE!! Don't wait if you find something because buyers are in St. George and they have cash and they are writing offers. Total volume of sales in Washington County since the first of the year is $54,422,243 - that's an average of just over $27,000,000 each month. That is a lot of real estate and keep in mind, this is only residential, single family, condo, townhomes, etc. Almost a million a day. Now if you want to get complete listings for the Washington County Utah area, you can create your own portal website here http://www.mlsfinder.com/ut_wcmls/leannwalters/index.cfm?action=userlogin - it's private, easy to use, and no obligation search!!

GRI 200 Class on Technology

Had a great class today in St. George Utah. Taught by one of the best on the new technology and how to grow your real estate business using it. His name is Robert Bolar and he is a real estate professional from North Ogden Utah. It was a two day class and I think we all learned a lot. I took his class two years ago and was so impressed then. I've been trying to tell so many of my colleagues the things that I had learned but it still seems like they want to do it their way and they are spending a lot of money on unnecessary efforts and gimmicks to do what he teaches to do on your own and for free. I'm going to create a GRI's of Utah page on Facebook and link some of his stuff to that page if you GRI's out there are interested in getting some tips. But mostly I think you should just watch his schedule and take his class if you every get the chance, NOW THAT will be money well spent!!