How Does Your Home’s Value Compare To the “Peak?”



Want to see which St. George area homes are currently for sale? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You can always call us at (435) 215-4533 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.​


Welcome back to another edition of GoStGeorgeTV, we have a really exciting episode today. We are going to talk about, and actually show you, where home values are in Utah and across the Country compared to 10 years ago at the “peak” of the real estate bubble.

A lot of crazy things have happened with the economy in the last 10 years - Ponzi shemes, government bailouts, and even a major recovery of home values across the Country.

Before we can even talk about where values are TODAY, understand the following:

  •  St. George area home values fell an average of 35% from 2006 to 2011. “Average” meaning that in some St. George neighborhoods values fell as much as 50% or more!
  •  As implied above, 2011 was the absolute “rock bottom” of the market in terms of home values. Yes, you can now consider 2011 the “good old days” of buying.. :)


In the video above, you will see that home values in the states colored dark blue have actually climbed back to peak levels seen 10 years ago. States like Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, and Nebraska all fall into this category.

On the other side, in the States marked by the color orange home values are still 15-20% below their peak. Nevada is 35% below their peak and Arizona is at 27.4% below peak home value ranges.

As for Utah, we are still 9% below our peak values, which is actually a very healthy number. If you want more info on “why” it’s a healthy figure, give us a ring!

An example: If you have owned a home in St. George that was valued at the peak for. Say, $400,000…the home is probably worth more like $360,000 now. If your home was valued at $200,000 in the “peak”, it’s probably closer to $180,000 today. Now these are not EXACT figures, but it’s a good rule of thumb.

However, we are starting to notice a much larger increase in home appreciation as of late. In the last year, homes have appreciated by 5.5%, and they have appreciated by 1.5% in the last month alone.

The most important thing to remember when interpreting this data is this….

 All real estate is local!

So local, in fact, that each neighborhood right inside of a single City could be experiencing different home value “symptoms.” Many factors can affect home values on your street so don’t be shy about reaching out for assistance! Trusting Zillow or Google to give you a clear view of your home’s true market value is, well, not reliable. We produced a previous episode about it HERE.


If you've got questions about your home’s value or anything else real-estate related, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to offer you a free, no-obligation home value assessment!

What’s Going on in the St. George Real Estate Market?



Want to see which St. George area homes are currently for sale? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You can always call us at (435) 215-4533 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.​

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of GoStGeorgeTV – the place where all of the “Smart Kids” are going to get their St. George Real Estate information! It’s April already and folks are asking, “what’s going on with the St. George Real Estate market this year? We’ll answer just that. Today's video comes to you from the beautiful Ballantyne resort in Charlotte! A few times a year, I travel across the country to receive intensive training, so I can continue to improve my service. I learn how to better market our clients' properties and how to better grow our business! One key element of being out here is having conversations about helping you, your family, or your friends find a great Real Estate Agent anywhere – and I mean ANYWHERE in the United States, even overseas! More on that later.

What's going on in the St. George Real Estate market?

The current market conditions would described, (in super boring terms), as “balanced.” 

There are currently 6.5 months of inventory (total real estate for sale) which indicates a neutral or balanced market. What does this mean? That OVERALL- when you average out every single St. George home sale, the market doesn’t necessarily favor Buyers OR Sellers. But remember that’s an average. The $200k market, for instance, is more of a Seller’s market. Whereas over $500k it’s definitely a Buyer’s market. 

But the current market is very active as we've seen 1,500 home sales in the last six months. At a $250,000 average sales price, that’s a LOT of St. George real estate changing hands. In fact, we were recently ranked the fifth fastest growing marketplace in the entire country! 

So how can we make you look really good with your friends and family across the globe?  

If you’ve got friends or family buying or selling anywhere on the planet where Real Estate Agents are actively available, we can connect them with the very best. Just let them know that your friends at The Larkin Group have a referral partner in that locale and we can save them the pain and drama of interviewing 10 agents!

If you have any specific questions about the St. George Real Estate Market, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, give me a call! I would love to sit down and discuss your particular situation! We hope to hear from you soon!

Do More Homes Sell During the St. George Parade of Homes?



Want to see which St. George area homes are currently for sale? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You can always call us at (435) 215-4533 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.​

Recently, I've been asked repeatedly whether more homes sell during the St. George Parade of Homes. Ok, we’re actually getting this question around EVERY Parade of homes, not just recently. Let’s take a look at what the numbers tell us. And the numbers never lie. 

During parade season, people from Southern Idaho and Northern Utah flee the inversions to capture the beautiful 60-70 degree weather in St. George. Over Presidents' Day weekend, soccer and softball tournaments overrun the area, and people from up north come to enjoy our community. If you were around, you saw that the town was absolutely BOMBED. I tried to just stay at home at not get involved in St. George’s version of “traffic.”

And every year about this time, homeowners in our area pull their dusty For Sale By Owner signs out of storage under the assumption that they'll be able to sell their home during the parade and many assume they can do so for more than it's worth. Why not? A bazillion people in town looking at homes, why wouldn’t it help?

But is this line of thinking true?

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE to see the actual REAL DATA about St. George home sales between the months of February and March in recent years.

NOTE: You’ll see that we used numbers from 2010-2012. That’s because:
  • We actually completed this analysis back then!
  • We don’t have enough data for 2015 yet.
But guess what? Trends are trends.

CONCLUSION? The Parade of Homes does not cause more homes to sell immediately in Washington County, but is probably the impetus for many home sales several months to several years later.

HOW CAN WE PROVE IT? We look at how many St. George homes sell directly AFTER the parade.

People who visit the area in mid-February and find a home they’d like to purchase can’t realistically close until March, more likely April.

Here’s a look at percentage INCREASE or DECREASE in home sales in Washington County in the 2 months after the Parade.
    • 2010: +9%
    • 2011: -1%
    • 2012: -8%
No compelling case that a huge increase happens after. It even went DOWN 2 of those years!

My conclusion? The Parade of Homes does not cause more homes to sell immediately in Washington County. It's a beautiful marketing pitch, as it showcases the kind of homes we have here, what the builders are capable of, and why they should move here. 

If you have any questions about selling your home during the Spring season in St. George, or if you’d just like to chat about how amazing this area is, don't hesitate to give me a call or shoot me a quick email. I would love to hear from you!