Southern Utah’s resurgent housing market and construction industry continue to improve, experts said Monday, despite uncertainty surrounding the possibility of a national fiscal cliff.
With 84 new building permits issued in September, the total in Washington County was at 855 for the year, up from 539 at the same point last year, and September home prices increased by 25 percent when compared to September the previous year, according to the latest monthly market update from ERA Brokers Consolidated.
Nationally, the housing market continues to see at least modest gains as well, despite the fiscal-cliff discussion and the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast.
Existing home sales jumped 2.1 percent in October compared to the previous month, representing nearly an 11 percent increase year-over-year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
And even with economic uncertainty caused by the prospect of the fiscal cliff — when the U.S. could see an increase in taxes at the same time it cuts back on federal spending caused if President Barack Obama and Congress fail to come up with a different solution — builders and real estate agents in Southern Utah said they haven’t seen any indication that it is slowing down local markets.
“We don’t see people stopping expansion, we don’t see people stopping development, we don’t see people reducing interest,” said Neil Walter, managing director of NAI Utah Southern Region.
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