SLAP! Weber Sales Take Hit From Uncle Sam

Nearly 10% of Weber County residence depend on the Federal Government for their income.  So, when there are palpitations in the regularity of government paychecks being issued, it has an impact on the local economy.  The impact of October's government shut down can be seen in this chart showing the change in same month sales volume year-over-year.

See anything unusual?  Real estate sales usually lag four to six weeks behind the date that offers are submitted.  So, November's sales numbers reflect real estate contracts that were were not written in October. In this case, a 23% decline is the result...the first decline year-over-year in over 30 months.

The upside is that the Federal government shutdown is over (until at least January 15th...for now) and this anomalous decline in sales volume will hopefully not repeat itself.  Excluding the risk of political events and Federal budget drama, real estate sales should continue to trend upward in the medium term for Weber County.    

The Standard Examiner also did a write up on this.  You can read their story here.