Utah - looking for 2024 local RE market nuances: SLC, Lehi, Orem, Provo etc

[Shawn W.]

Hi everyone! 

I'm looking to understand the local market differences among the cities in Utah - Salt Lake City, Lehi, Orem, Provo (or others), for Single Family or small (2-4) Multifamily Rental property investment. 

-Job growth/economic trend in the local pockets 
-Is the 'silicon slope' (Lehi) overrated/saturated? or do you see continuing growing trend in that/nearby market?
-Any local policy changes trend? ( perhaps related to STR vs LTR, if I want to have additional options - mainly planning on Long term rental)
-Areas that are looking better for cash flow?
-Utah has been hot for a while, so I'm hoping to see what are some of areas that's still a safer bed in 2024. (looking to make a move in the next couple of months!) 

I'm a remote investor, currently doing my market research and has zoomed into Utah. This will be my first 'real' investment (after accidentally got into RE investments previously) so I'm hoping to keep the risk level lower if possible. 

-Hoping for affordable (relatively) options - from which I can also afford to learn my lessons and get my feet wet. 
-Looking for areas that has safer cashflow (even though I understand it's getting harder and harder). Appreciation would be great but that's something harder to predict.
-Appreciate any suggestions on under the radar areas or pockets outside of the areas that mentioned. 

I would love to connect with a team as my next step!  Hope to get some general ideas and zoom in more first, so I don't waste anyone's time! :)

Grateful for any advice or resource! 

Thank you!

Shawn

[William Hochstedler]

Utah is expensive.  However, mid and long term upside are still favorable.  Salt Lake is getting compared to places like Austin and Denver (but might not be cheaper).  Utah's economy and market diversity is excellent.  The problem is continued growth is dependent on out-of-area money continuing to come here as the vast majority of Utahns can't afford to purchase homes.

My opinion (and what other's have said) about regions (sorted by size):

Salt Lake county: Home of SLC and the major metro in Utah. A growing list of amenities. Size-wise its a top 50 national market and should be analyzed that way. Davis county is basically Salt Lake suburbs.

Utah county:  Geographically constricted and full of tech and health care jobs.  As others have said here "path of progress" moves west and south.  I'm not sure if Santaquin or Saratoga has a better continued upside than Orem or Provo which are the two metro hubs.

Ogden Metro:  Hill AFB and the IRS provide a LOT of jobs in Weber county.  Past 5 to 10 year run up in prices has been disproportional to amenities and the quality of the inventory.  Still the cheapest inventory on the populated portion of the Wasatch front (places served by the Frontrunner).  Even in this market, it's hard to sell a $250K piece of junk in Ogden that gets $1200/mo rent.  Opportunities are here but the appreciation that accompanied this market going from a class D to a class C was driven only by people who could not afford anywhere else in Utah.  That will probably remain to be true.  But no real renaissance seems imminent because it got too expensive (and restrictive) for the artist type.  There are nicer pockets, but the nicer communities have moved up Weber Canyon into Morgan County.

Saint George: Growing retirement community that is tracking the sun-belt growth. Great weather. Still Utah centric in that everyone I know who is passionate about St George has family there. But I'll defer on this to better knowledge.

Cache County & Logan:  I live here and can't figure it out.  Lowest unemployment in the country.  Starting to see some really good employers.  Has quite a bit of "other money" combined with navel gazing.  Beautiful and getting very expensive.  There's a possibility that this will continue the trajectory to be another expensive Western mid-size market.  But that will be reliant on outside money coming to a somewhat sheltered community that hasn't traditionally catered to affluence or outsiders.

Other micro-markets of note: Park City (compare to other national resort towns), Vernal, Cedar City, Tooele, Moab, Price

Rural Utah: There's a lot of it including beautiful areas that could make great STR's, remote work situations, etc. In most markets outside of the above, the piano might stop playing when you come to town. That's not always bad. But absentee owners may have issues. Likely the same with small towns everywhere.