Housing boom may be cooling off in Utah

The number of building permits issued for new houses, condominiums and apartments is falling across Utah, but in Utah County permits are skyrocketing, according to a new report.

Residential permits issued across the state from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 fell to 20,387, down 4.5 percent from 21,347 permits handed out during the same nine-month period in 2005, according to the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

The turnaround began in August, when new residential housing permits fell 15.3 percent for the month. That was followed in September by a 13.7 percent drop.

Many Utah cities have seen the number of residential permits issued this year drop dramatically. Permits in St. George fell 43 percent in the first nine months of 2006, compared with that period in 2005. In Herriman, permits fell 50 percent. West Jordan was down 31 percent, and Riverton was off by 10 percent, the report noted.

Counties also saw declines. Salt Lake County was down 12 percent in the first nine months, compared with the same period last year. Davis County saw a 10 percent decrease. Tooele County dropped 13 percent.

Utah County appeared to be the exception, with permits there rising by nearly 21 percent.

"It's just exploding down there," said James Wood, director of the U. bureau. "Utah County will be the leader in new residential construction this year. They have roughly a 600-unit lead on Salt Lake County through the third quarter. I don't think that there is any way Salt Lake County is going to catch them."

The rise in new permits in Utah County was driven by record home building in Lehi, which led the state with 1,361 permits issued from January through September. Also, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs — at 640 and 508 permits, respectively — showed strong increases in the number of residential building permits issued this year.

Yet Utah County's gains were not enough to put the state ahead of where it was last year at this time. And with a slowdown looming, the question becomes how long and how severe the pullback might be.

Chris Gamvourulous, president of Ivory Development Co., Utah's biggest homebuilder, said Ivory likely will build more houses in 2006 than it did in 2005. In 2005, Ivory pulled 1,058 single-family home permits.

However, Gamvourulous said, the company remains concerned over the "investor presence" in the Salt Lake market. In October 2005, Ivory Homes began making its buyers sign an agreement, promising that their house purchase would be used as a "principal or secondary residence" and also agreeing to not sell the property for at least one year. Violators are subject to a $25,000 penalty.