What’s Keeping Utah’s Real Estate Market Hot in the Time of COVID?

September 15, 2020 by admin
Housing

by: Dejan Eskic, Senior Research Analyst, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute

The recent global health pandemic has shaken the foundation
of our everyday lives and likely forced cultural shifts that will
stay with us for a long time. Every part of the economy has been
impacted to different degrees. While the economy fell into a
record recession and experienced all-time high unemployment,
Utah’s construction industry set a record for the first six months
of the year.

The recent release of the Ivory-Boyer Second Quarter
Construction Report, which measures Utah’s construction activity
through the first six months of the year, shows that overall
permitted construction value slightly increased over last year.
While both residential and nonresidential construction value
decreased slightly, the 19.0% increase in additions, alterations,
and repairs made sure construction value for the first two
quarters of 2020 remained nearly identical to 2019. Total
permitted residential units also remained similar to 2019, with
13,792 units between January and June of 2020. Apartment
activity decreased by 25.8%, but single-family units increased by
9.6%, and condos, townhomes, and duplexes increased by 17.5%.
While the decrease in apartment permits can be attributed to the
impacts of the public health crisis, with a shift toward more space
for both social distancing and work-from-home purposes, it is
important to note that the number of dwelling units approved
through the middle of 2020 ranks as the highest on record.

Read the full report here:   C19RealEstateBrief-Sep2020