St. George Home Prices: From Past To Present

This is not an article on the price of milk, the rate wages or the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

Those numbers are likely relatively comparable to what this article is about -- the price of a home in the St. George area over the years.

I moved to this area in early 1994. At the time, you could buy a decent-sized house (say 1,800-square feet) for about $92,000.

I didn't know it at the time, but that price was up $20,000 from just two years earlier, when the price for an average home was around $72,000.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In the early part of the 20th century, real estate was cheap in Southern Utah. Long before the world discovered what an amazing place Washington County is, you could buy a piece of land here and build a new home for a few hundred dollars.

Just before World War II, you could still own a decent-sized piece of Dixie for less than $1,000.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the price of a home in Southern Utah was still below the national average of $7,200.

In the 1970s, wages started to rise and so, too, did the price of a home in America. While the St. George area remained below the national average, it took 20 grand to buy a house at the start of the 70s, and that number ballooned to about $40,000 by 1980.

When the 90s dawned in Washington County, the average price of a home was still "attainable" by the average citizen at $66,000.

That number stayed pretty steady until 1994, when the average home price jumped to $92,000.

Ten years later, in 2002, you could still buy a quality home in Southern Utah for around $115,000.

And then things went crazy.

When tourists and outdoor lovers started to discover the incredible advantages of living in Washington County, property value went up and the average family started to feel the pinch.

From the start of 2002 until the end of 2008, the average price of a home in Southern Utah went from about $115,000 to $214,000 -- an increase of 86 percent in six years.

Of course, in 2008 we had that recession and housing bubble burst. Home values went from $214,000 at the end of 2008 all the way down to $142,000 in just over a year's time.

But things rebounded in a big way. The average home cost $126,000 in 2011 and rose steadily to $239,000 in mid 2020.

The next four years steady turned into stark crazy. The average house went from $239,000 in 2020 to today's average -- a whopping $367,000.

That's an increase of 54 percent over four years and 211 percent from 2011 to 2024.

The bottom line is this: Buying a home is profitable. Only three of the last 50 years have home prices actually dropped. Unfortunately, getting a home nowadays may be near impossible.

Approximate average home price in Southern Utah:

• 1930s -- $900
• 1960 -- $6,000
• 1970 -- $20,000
• 1980 -- $40,000
• 1990 --$66,000
• 1992 -- $72,000
• 1994 -- $92,000
• 2002 -- $115,000
• 2008 --$214,000
• 2010 -- $142,000
• 2020 -- $239,000
• 2024 -- $367,000

Get our free mobile app