Utah's home prices tumble in 2nd quarter

(Deseret News) The price of homes sold in Utah fell almost twice as much as the national average in the second quarter, according to a government report released Tuesday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Housing Price Index showed Utah ranked 46th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with Utah prices depreciating 11.6 percent during the second quarter of 2009, compared with the same period last year.

The nationwide depreciation average was 6.13 percent, the report stated.

As recently as 2006, Utah boasted four of the fastest-growing counties in the nation in terms of housing units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And Utah had the largest year-over-year increase in home prices in the third quarter of 2007. The rate was nearly 13 percent at that time, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Four of the state's metropolitan areas were among the top 11 in the nation for home-price increases.

But today that trend has changed dramatically.

A local economist said the fact that Utah is trailed primarily by other Western states — Hawaii, California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada — in terms of sales price declines could indicate a strong geographical component to the state's housing woes.

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