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Freddie Mac releases housing and mortgage statistics for Utah
March 23, 2007

Freddie Mac has a new tool for those interested in obtaining mortgage and economic data. The organization recently released reports that provide quick information about mortgage and housing statistics for each state. The Freddie Mac Utah fact sheet includes these key findings:

Utah’s homeownership rate in 2005 was 70.6 percent. House price appreciation in Utah has averaged about 7 percent per year over the last five years but has recently accelerated. In the first three quarters of 2006, house prices rose more than 17 percent in the state. As of September 2006, a Utah family earning the state’s median income could afford to buy a home priced 20 percent more than the median sales price in the state. However, at the start of 2005, they could have purchased a home priced 50 percent more than the median price. High housing affordability has kept Utah’s homeownership rate above the national rate by an average of about 5 percent for the last five years. Despite Utah’s relatively low housing costs, Utah has a high percentage of buyers who are using nontraditional mortgage products. With 35.6 percent of purchase loans taken out over the first nine months of 2006 being adjustable-rate mortgages, Utah’s ARM share is the 5th highest in the nation.

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