Saint George, Utah - Market appreciation and tenant population

[Andrew Mykletun]

Fellow BP members,

I am trying to get a sense of the future appreciation possibilities in Saint George, Utah for single family homes and also to get a sense of how solid the renter/tenant population is in this area.  If you have any inputs or thoughts then please share them.  Appreciate it.

Thank you,

Andrew

[Justin Morgan]

Hey @Andrew Mykletun ... as @Ryan Lee said we have seen lots of appreciation over the past several years as well as rent increase across the board.  

Everything we read says that Southern Utah and St. George specifically is going to keep growing and growing.  We have a strong retirement population that gets $$$ ever month.   We are a tourism destination with state parks, national parks and lots of recreation and fantastic weather. 

All that said we do not have a strong employment base that I see in many other markets (like northern Utah).  Our employment base is SOOOOO real estate related and "service" industry related.  High paying jobs seem to be hard and career employment is not good.  I have temp employees and staff at $10 hr and they are happy with that because "the job market sucks".   I can run an add at $15 and for any position and our phones blow up.   This is very different than what I see in other fast appreciating markets with jobs. 

The employment sector makes me nervous for our little growing town. 

I do not see St. George rentals providing good returns (like .5% at best)... YES, the appreciation is awesome but that is speculative investing. 

My 2 cents....