Friday, July 16, 2010

Picture looks rosier for Utah home construction industry

There will be 50 percent more new homes in Utah in 2010 compared to 2009, and the upward trend is likely to continue, according to a new report from the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah.

The vast majority of new homes will be sold at less than $300,000 and will have serious competition from the short sale and foreclosure market, where near-new homes are still being sold below cost.

Even with an uptick the last several months, the industry is still in trouble, according to the report. Many small homebuilders have gone out of business, leaving only the large and well-financed companies to compete. And there are still several important hurdles for even those high-producing homebuilders to overcome. The Deseret News