In the last months of 2011, every major indicator of economic health in the United States showed marked improvement: manufacturing, sentiment, holiday sales, e-commerce, inflation, and employment.

Utah continues to be a leading state in national employment growth. Over 30,300 jobs were added in 2011, resulting in a 2.5 percent overall increase. Transportation, manufacturing, wholesale trade, hospitality, and private education all show positive signs. The trend of moderate job growth should continue improving in 2012.

Utah home sales continue an upward trend in November, 2011, rising more than 10 percent compared to last year and marking the sixth straight month of home sales increases. Sales were also up for the year as a whole, rising 8 percent compared to the January-through-November period in 2010. Since the beginning of 2011, more than 30,000 homes have been sold.

Home price improvements are still slow to catch up. For the year as a whole, prices are down about 8 percent compared to the first 11 months of 2011. At the current pace of sales, there is seven months of supply, the lowest since April, 2007. This points to both increases in demand and decreases in supply, a combination that suggest rising home prices will soon follow.

The low prices combined with record-low interest rates make homes in Salt Lake area very affordable. But rock bottom mortgage rates have only one direction to go - that's up. As long as problems in Europe persist and unemployment remains high nationally, interest should remain low. However, there is expectation that as the economy continues to slowly improve interest rates will rise. Even with the Fed promising to hold down rates until 2013, we might see rates edging up to about 5.00% by the end of 2012.

To read more about the housing and interest rates, go to my blog www.smartloanchatter.com.

Remember to make every day in 2012 a great day - and may happiness, love and joy be present in your home all year long!

Happy New Year!!

I'm Linda Miller, a Smart Loan Lady and Your Preferred Utah Mortgage Advisor

Call me at 801.550.1222
NMLS #39250
Affordable Home Loans - Correspondent Mortgage Lender
7651 Main Street, Suite 214
Midvale, UT 84047