The housing market and Ivory Homes in the news January 2007

• Ivory Homes stays at the top of the Utah homebuilder ranking....................................1

• A sure foundation in an erratic market...............................................................................1

• Richmond American rivals Ivory for top homebuilder...................................................2

• Ivory Homes announces grand opening............................................................................3

• Ivory Homes’ objects to schools impact fee plan.............................................................3

• Despite national slide, Utah construction rate still booms..............................................4

• Utah housing market strong.................................................................................................5

• Utah Valley home prices rising fast.....................................................................................6

• Housing under $200 is tough to find..................................................................................8

• Fiery 2006 housing market had a slow end........................................................................9

• Double digit gains are norm................................................................................................10

• Economist paints rosy mortgage rates picture.................................................................11

• Many jobs, little help............................................................................................................12

• Utah ranks 9th in relocation.................................................................................................13

• IVORY LEADS THE WAY............................................................................................14

• WHATS NEW IN 2007....................................................................................................15

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The Lessons They Learned by Utah Business Staff - January 2007

A Sure Foundation in an Erratic Market Clark Ivory

The story: After a record-breaking year, Utah’s housing market began to sag somewhat in the late summer heat. Ivory Homes, which has been the top homebuilder in Utah for nearly two decades, remains unruffled by the growth streak that had builders, contractors and suppliers scrambling. Although the housing market has put on the brakes, it is still healthy and expanding. Population growth and a strong economy almost guarantee a full work-load for area builders. “The only reason the housing market would not be strong when job growth is high is if homebuilders are constructing a lot of speculative homes,” says Clark Ivory, CEO of Ivory Homes.

The lesson: “Supply, not demand, is the most influential factor in the health of the housing market,” explains Ivory. “Demand, in the long run, is very consistent, while some builders’ reaction to any changes in demand is typically what fluctuates wildly and puts the market in a position that requires correction and stabilization.” Because the market seems to be stabilizing—and maybe even scaling back—Ivory Homes recently pulled together employees, key subcontractors and suppliers to prepare the company for a possible downturn. “We identified four things that as a homebuilder we refuse to do,” says Ivory. The company avoids selling to speculators, amassing a speculative inventory, building in “fringe locations” or buying land at inflated prices. “Discipline in making wise land purchases is critical to the long-term success of the builder. We have not allowed ourselves to get hyped up in buying land based on future appreciation.” Putting the customer first is probably the greatest lesson for Ivory Homes, which has managed to keep a cool head in a hot market. “If it does not work for us to give good value to a homebuyer today, we won’t do it!”

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Article published Jan 30, 2007 Business in Brief

Ivory Homes announces opening

ST. GEORGE - Ivory Homes announces the opening of its first model home at Hidden Valley. This home represents Ivory Homes' return to the Southern Utah market after a 40-plus year absence since Ellis Ivory came to St. George and began the development of Bloomington.

The Model, called the Seville, features a two-story, 2,405-square-foot plan that includes a master bedroom on the main floor with a total of four bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Interested homebuyers can visit the decorated model home at Hidden Valley, located at 3390 South Desert Hills Drive. Model home hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

This master planned community will be in a price range that St. George has needed for quite some time.

"We are building high-quality homes with all product types including town homes, twin homes and traditional detached homes, but the majority of our focus will be on building for the primary residents of the city who are looking for a good value," said Matt Curtis, the marketing coordinator for Ivory Homes.

Hidden Valley is designed for 1,072 units of mixed-use housing that will include town homes, single family patio homes and estate homes within six planned development areas.

Ivory Homes has been Utah's No. 1 home builder for 18 consecutive years, developing quality communities since 1964. In 2006, Ivory Homes achieved the mark of more than 10,000 homes built for Utah families. Ivory Homes is currently developing new communities in more than 50 locations along the Wasatch Front and in Southern Utah. For more information, call 986-6900 or visit www.ivoryhomes.com

- The Spectrum & Daily News

Ivory Homes Objects to School's Impact Fee Plan

Jan 11, 2007 by Julie Rose (KCPW News) The largest home-builder in Utah is says school districts will only boost home prices in the state if they start charging fees on home construction to pay for school buildings.

"I'm struggling every day to figure out how to present a house to someone for under $250,000," says Ivory Homes CEO Clark Ivory. "And if every city I work in then has an opportunity to throw three or four or five thousand dollars additionally, those costs get ramped up to the point that noone can afford a home in Utah."

Current Utah law allows cities and counties to impose impact fees on new developments, but school districts cannot. A state lawmaker wants to give school districts the ability to charge those fees to help build schools in new housing developments. This week the Granite Board of Education voted to support the concept. Ivory maintains there is enough money in the state's surplus and revenue coffers to fund education without penalizing homebuyers.

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Despite national slide, Utah construction rate still booms

By Lesley Mitchell The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune

Utah's construction industry is poised to be the strongest in the nation this year, a top economist said Thursday. "Construction seems to be accelerating in Utah while it is slowing down in other states," said Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America. Simonson was one of a handful of economists and other economic professionals who on Thursday presented Utah economic forecasts for the rest of the year. In Utah, residential builders aren't expected to have the banner year that they had in the state in 2006. But they are expected to have a good year because of Utah's strong job and population growth and continued low interest rates. Nationally, demand for homes slid last month by the largest margin since 1989, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. There is growing worry that the downturn in the real estate market could hurt the U.S. economy. In Utah, the commercial construction industry is even stronger than the state's residential industry, Simonson said. Developers are gearing up for years of high levels of activity, including work on the mixed use project City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City as well as large retail and office developments. Simonson expects construction industry employment in Utah, unlike the rest of the country, to continue to climb. "Utah has strong population growth, and over time, population growth tends to be the one thing that pushes up construction levels across the board," he said. Wells Fargo & Co. economist Kelly Matthews said new home building activity in Utah should drop off a bit this year due to what he considers to be an affordability problem in the state. He said wage gains in Utah - although substantial in recent years - have not kept pace with housing appreciation. That means a lot of Utah families - especially younger ones - are struggling to buy a home, even with the proliferation in recent years of adjustable rate mortgages and continued low interest rates. But Utah's economic problems for the most part seem small compared with other parts of the country. The No. 1 reason for that is job growth. U.S. Bank economist John Mitchell said among all states, Utah's rate of job creation is behind only Wyoming, Nevada and Arizona. But Mitchell said Utah and other states will continue in 2007 and beyond to struggle with tight labor markets, which could become an economic problem. lesley@sltrib.com --- * The Associated Press contributed to this story. Top economies Utah has one of the strongest rates of job growth in the nation, which is boosting the state's economy and building activity. The top states, ranked by employment growth in 2006, are: 1. Wyoming 2. Nevada 3. Arizona 4. UTAH 5. Montana

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Deseret Morning News, Saturday, January 27, 2007

Utah Valley home prices rising fast

Costs create affordability gap for would-be buyers

By Tad Walch Deseret Morning News

PROVO — From Santaquin to Alpine, the housing market is hot.

How hot?

Three years ago, a $250,000 home was a premium home in Utah Valley. Now, the average sale price of a Utah County home is $254,000.

In fact, the number of valley homes sold for at least $500,000 jumped from 95 three years ago to 368 last year.

Real estate expert Kevin Call now tracks the valley's high-end housing market by counting the million-dollar homes: 44 sold last year, 73 on the market right now.

The surge is raising prices at the bottom end of the market, too, great news for homeowners but bad news for would-be homebuyers who now can't afford most of the homes in Utah Valley, said Call, executive vice president for the Utah County Association of Realtors.

How bad is the affordability gap?

Only 3 percent of homes on the market right now are listing for less than $160,000. And 90 percent of all homes on the market this week list for $200,000 or more.

"That's an affordability problem in our marketplace," Call told the Provo Kiwanis Club on Tuesday. "If you are a schoolteacher in the Alpine School District with five years' experience and a master's degree, you can't qualify for 90 percent of homes on the market unless you have a second job or a spouse that works."

Don't expect new construction to ease the problem, either.

"You can't find a new construction home for under $160,000," Call said. "Even downtown Eagle Mountain has passed that threshold."

The reason is a stark leap in lot prices. For example, in 2004, a lot in the Val Vista subdivision in American Fork sold for $75,000. Last year, a nearby lot that was the same size sold for $149,500.

The lowest-priced, developed single-family lot listed Wednesday in Santaquin, one of the most affordable cities in the valley, was $67,000 for .17 acres.

The affordability situation is compounded by a low inventory: Only a small supply of homes are for sale for less than $160,000 or even up to $200,000.

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"The group that can handle the least competition is facing the most competition," Call said of lower-income homebuyers.

The good news is that homeowners are seeing an excellent return on their investments.

Last year, half of all single-family homes in Utah Valley sold for more than $213,075 in 2006, and half sold for less. That median sale price was up 33 percent from $160,000 at the end of 2004.

The median price in Orem jumped from $151,525 to $180,000 over the same period. In Provo, it went from $143,450 to $170,000. The highest appreciation was in the Highland-Alpine area, where it grew roughly 23 percent last year alone.

"I expect 2007 to be approximately the same in unit sales as it was in 2006," Call said. "I expect prices to increase, but certainly not at 22 to 24 percent. Our market is beginning to settle, to stabilize a bit. I believe that's healthy for our market."

One reason is new construction. More building permits were issued in Utah County in 2006 than ever before. Even Provo hit an eight-year high, Mayor Lewis Billings said recently.

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CONTINUED

Economist paints rosy mortgage-rate picture

Zions Bank consultant says rates may fall in time for prime home-selling season

By Lesley Mitchell - The Salt Lake Tribune - 01/31/2007

Mortgage rates have been edging up for weeks, but consumers should not worry about rates escalating further this year, a well-known Utah economist said Tuesday. In fact, rates for 30-year mortgages could ease a bit going into the prime home-buying season of spring and summer - perhaps even falling below 6 percent, said Jeff Thredgold, a Zions Bank consultant. Thredgold spoke Tuesday at the Utah Commercial Real Estate Symposium at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. "Rates [for a 30-year loan] could be back as low as the high-5 percent to low-6 percent range by summer," he said. Nationally, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.3 percent at the end of last week, up slightly from 6.2 percent the previous week, according to mortgage company Freddie Mac. As recently as December, rates were about 6 percent. In Utah, the average 30-year loan rate appears to be slightly higher, with many lenders advertising rates around 6.5 percent. Many Utahns are especially concerned with mortgage rates these days because of the marked increase in the price of houses along the Wasatch Front over the past two years. Higher prices have made it more difficult for low- to moderate-income families to buy a house. Moderating those increases in home values, however, has been a slight decline in interest rates that began in September 2006. But in recent weeks, rates on the popular 30-year mortgage have been moving higher, and higher interest rates mean higher monthly payments. The monthly payment of principal and interest on a $300,000 home loan at 6 percent, for example, is just under $1,800. The monthly payment on the same amount at 7 percent would be nearly $2,000. In some cases, families who qualify for a home loan at 6 percent might not qualify for the same amount at 7 percent. Jonathon and Tiffany Andrews of Clinton said they have been very concerned about mortgage rates in recent weeks as they have looked for a new house in Roy. And they were relieved to lock in weeks ago at around 6 percent for a 30-year mortgage. "Had rates been a bit higher, we definitely would not have been able to afford the house we got," Jonathon Andrews said. Even among economists who expect mortgage rates to edge up by the end of the year, few are raising the possibility of rates broaching 7 percent, which last occurred in 2002. In his forecast for 2007, Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, said there is a possibility that 30-year home loans nationally may rise to an average of 6.5 percent by the third quarter of this year. But even that rate, he notes, is "quite low" by historical standards.

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Utah Real EstateJanuary 27, 2007 At Home in Utah An advertising supplement to

The Salt Lake Itibune and Deserel Morning News

SymphonyHomes,Page 11

888-423-11991530 So, 500 W,

In 2006, Ivory Homes closed on 1,202 homes for Utah

families, a total of $440 million in new home

construction. According to John Cahoon, Director of

Sales and Marketing, "These are records for our company

and for the state of Utah." The Construction Monitor

also reported that Ivory led all builders in both units and

dollar value of permits issued in 2006. But Cahoon says,

"The best is yet to come. We are introducing our most

exciting new communities to date in 2007 and are

committed to getting better in every possible way for our

customers. We have added 14 new floor plans to our

award winning catalogue of homes and we are including

more options as standard than ever before."

IVORY LEADS IN INNOVATIVEDESIGNS FROM NEW TOWNHOMESTO LUXURY HOMES(AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN)From our outstanding in-house design professionals

comes a wide selection of beautiful and functional

home plans, and now, townhome designs. With hundreds

of custom finishing choices, creating the home that

expresses your unique style is easier than ever.

IVORY LEADS IN CUSTOMER SERVICEOver the past ten years we've achieved over 90% customer

satisfaction and many of our buyers have purchased second

and third homes from us. Plus, we offer additional peace of

mind to every homeowner with a 10-year Home Warranty,

one of the best in the industry.

IVORY LEADS IN QUALITY LOCATIONSWhen it comes to the value of your home, nothing has

greater impact than location. With over 50 communities

from Ogden to Provo, Heber to Stansbury, and now in

St. George, Ivory only builds in highly sought-after locations

that have the greatest potential for future appreciation.

IVORY LEADS WITH "CLUB IVORY"MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITIESClub Ivory communities feature outstanding amenities such

as clubhouses, private pools, tennis and athletic facilities,

community parks, tot lots, jogging trails and beautifully

designed entry monuments. Ivory takes great pride in leading

the way in community designs that enhance lifestyle and

community value. This year, Ivory is building its biggest-ever

Club Ivory community at Ivory Ridge which will feature

six indoor tennis courts, five outdoor tennis courts,

a state-of-the-art clubhouse and three swimming pools.

See ivoryridge.com or call 866-GO-IVORY.

UTAH'S NUMBER ONE HOMEBUILDERTo consistently provide superior product and services for

more Utah families than anyone else requires a team

dedicated to innovation and constant improvement of

every aspect of home building. At Ivory we work harder,

we listen to our homebuyers, and recognize the need to

make significant improvements each and every year.

"Being Number One isn't about just doing more volume, it's about improving

and offering exceptional value and quality to each homebuyer."— John Cahoon, Director of Sales and Marketing

IVORY* HOMESUtah's Number One Homebuilder

Advertising supplement produced by the Newspaper Agency Corporation The Salt Lake Tribune/Deseret Morning News, Jan. 27 2007 G3

IVORY x* HOMESWhat's New in 2007

Ivory Builds Where You Want to Live

PEPPERWOOD CREEK in Sandy, 801-231-6262

Ivory will offer 12 great new locations along theWasatch Front including an amazing new St. Georgecommunity, luxury east bench locations in Sandy anda 337 acre golf community in Clinton along withseveral prime locations from Ogden to Spanish Fork.

NEW COMMUNITIES FOR 2007:

SPANISH HIGHLANDS in Spanish Fork, 801-373-^5950

WILLOW COVE in Lehi, 801-766-1340

PARADISE VALLEY in Sandy, 801-550-0903

DIMPLE DELL COURT in Sandy, 801-261-4402

SUMMERWOOD in Riverton, 801-254-5325

HIGHBURY in West Valley City, 801-969-4444

MONTE BELLA in Kaysville, 801-546-1777

CHELEMES FARMS in Clearfield, 801-546-2700

SIENNA VILLAS in Syracuse, 801-776-1052

CRANEFIELD ESTATES in Clinton, 801-776-8000

WHISPERING MEADOWS in Roy, 801-732-0808

TUSCAN ESTATES in South Ogden, 801-546-1777

HIDDEN VALLEY in St. George, I-866.IVORY-4U

Eleven of our most popular locations wi l l have newopportunities in 2007 with additional phasesbecoming available. If you're not yet famil iar wi ththese great locations, now is the time to discoverthe benefits each of these great communities offer.

NEW PHASES FOR 2007:

MILL ROAD ESTATES in Heber, 435-657-0444

IVORY RIDGE in Lehi, 1-866-GO-1VORY

BELLEVUE in Draper, 801-553-9400

PEPPERWOOD CREEK in Sandy, 801-231-6262

BLOOMFIELD ESTATES in West Jordan, 801-282-1661

IVORY CROSSING in South Jordan, 801-446-4802 .

IVORY. HIGHLANDS in Taylorsville, 801-965-1688

VALLEY FIELDS in West Valley City, 801-840-0515

WESTRIDGE ESTATES in West Valley City, 801-969-4444

BENSON MILL CROSSING in Stansbury, 435-843-5037

MOUNTAIN VIEW ESTATES in Woods Cross, 801-209-2333

Ivory Offers an ExceptionalNew Choice in Townhome LivingIvory Townhomes is the result of Ivory's goal to create outstanding homes and communities atan exceptional value. Townhome designs will consistently reflect Ivory's ongoing commitmentto spacious floorplans, high quality materials and locations that are second to none in convenience,beauty and desirability. Amenity rich, Ivory Townhomes offer great features including affordablecomfort, maintenance-free living, recreational opportunities and exciting common areas.

NEW TOWNHOME COMMUNITIES:

IVORY RIDGE in Lehi, l-866-GO-IVORY

PEPPERWOOD CREEK in Sandy, 801-231-6262

HIGHBURY in West Valley City, 801-969-4444

IVORY HIGHLANDS in Taylorsville, 801-965-1688

BENSON MILL CROSSING in Stansbury, 435-843-5037

FLORENTINE TOWNS in Centerville, l-866-GO-IVORY

IVORY RIDGE in Lehi, l-866-GO-IVORY

IVORY HOMES

More New Designs than Ever Before Now AvailableFrom our outstanding in-house design professionals come a wide selection of beautiful and functional home designs.Our new 2007 Catalogue of Homes features 40 innovative home designs in two-story or rambler styles ranging from just under3,000 sq. ft. to 6,000 sq. ft., all with hundreds of finishingchoices to create the home that expresses your unique style.Our Advantage collection of home designs offers beautiful andaffordable options in a smaller home — all finished withIvory's commitment to quality.

Our new European line of homes and villas will beshowcased in the new Pepperwood Creek community inSandy, offering Old World elegance and style.

PEPPERWOOD CREEK in Sandy, 801-231-6262

P St. George Grand Opening Next Week! _| f | : Visit Our Beautiful New Model at Hidden Valley February 5-10: This new Club Ivory development will feature homes at a variety of price points.

;; All 1,072 new homes for both primary and second homebuyers will be nestled in the the| | | beautiful Hidden Valley community, bringing with it parks, trails, open space and Club Ivory|;.;: — complete with tennis courts, volleyball courts, a tot lot and a large, gorgeous pool.

Don't miss this opportunity to buy an affordably-prked vacation home.

Casitas priced from $189,900. Estate Homes priced from $239,900. Villas priced from $390,000.

1-866-IVORY-4Ui i - T 1 ••;.*•* '"&'x '••>'- .

Now is the Time to Buy Your New Ivory HomeNow is the time to take advantage of low interest rates, great selection in a wide variety of communities and home plans. Don't let your dreams of a new home wait another year

— Ivory Homes can make the process easy, surprisingly affordable and enjoyable. Visit one of our 32 decorated model homes or give us a call or go online at:

l-866-GO-IVORY ivoryhomes.com