Dec 30 2008
Utah is Nation’s Fastest-Growing State
With a 2.5% population increase during the 2007-8 fiscal year, Utah is the fastest-growing state in the country. This fact spent a few days in the national headlines, but what most people still don’t know is that this makes two years in a row.
After some cities challenged census results, Utah’s 2006-7 growth charted at 3.2%, topping Nevada’s 2.8 by a large margin.
What all this means for Utah real estate is that development will continue and the demand for housing will remain strong.
Long term projections mentioned in a Salt Lake Tribune article highlight the need for careful planning now as Davis County is projected to run out of farmland by 2020 and state traffic will double by 2040.
Decades ago, many Utahns felt a minor self-esteem crisis for being less metropolitan than coastal states. More recently, Utah’s esteem seems to be booming as the world recognizes our outstanding communities, workers, and natural surroundings.
In short, Utah real estate, while feeling the pinch of the national ecomony (though less so than other areas), remains a viable industry and investment, and will continue so beyond the foreseeable future.