Tier One Real Estate

Congratulations! You just made it through the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. While it may be a little premature to declare the recession is over, all indications point to a growing economy and a recovering housing market. The biggest news of an economic turnaround came last week when the Commerce Department reported that all goods and services produced (gross domestic product) in the United States rose at an estimated annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter.

The positive uptick follows one year of negative declines to GDP. Closer to home, sales of existing single-family homes across the Wasatch Front climbed 4 percent in this year's third quarter compared to the same period a year ago. The increase was the first time in four years that home sales showed a year-over-year increase during a third quarter.

Nationally, the good news is that home prices have stabilized and even started to rise. According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Report, 17 of 20 major metropolitan areas showed house-price increases from July to August. Of the 20 cities tracked, only Charlotte, Cleveland and Las Vegas showed small decreases (Salt Lake City was not included in the report). These developments, in part, led Moodys/Economy.com economist Mark Zandi in a recent report to national homebuilders to declare that "the housing crash is history."

For home buyers, that means the bottom of the market has likely come and gone. And more personally, it means the worst is behind us.