Home Sales Around St. George Driven By Bargains

Foreclosures and short sales are driving around 70 percent of property sales around St. George in southern Utah, real-estate officials say.

The redrock town near national parks and wide-open public lands has been battered for nearly two years by a recession that put a halt to rapid development with some speculation.

Officials say sales of new and existing homes picked up in Washington County for a second month in May to 361 -- up by 51 sales over the same month last year.

But officials expect a dip in market activity this summer now that a federal tax credit for home buying has expired, followed by a slow recovery that could keep home prices low for two or three years before they rise again.

"The key there is that we stopped falling," said Allen Carter, owner of Southern Utah Title.

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