Housing prices nearing bottom in Washington County

Home prices in St. George continue to fall, but a new study indicates the area may soon bottom out. A report released Monday by CoreLogic, a real estate analytics company, showed home prices in St. George fell 2 percent in March compared with the previous year, a decline but much better than the 10.8 percent drop recorded for February.

For St. George, where prices have been in a decline for four years and the economy collapsed under the onset of a recession in 2008, the news comes as another indicator that a recovery could start later this year, albeit a slow one.

Washington County saw a 41 percent jump in home sales during the first quarter when compared to 2009, according to a spring report from Southern Utah Title Company. Attracted by low interest rates and low prices offered by bank-owned properties, sales picked up, but Realtors said little of the action at the lower end of the market was affecting the inventory of larger, more expensive homes. The Spectrum