Trump and Commercial Real Estate In Utah

In the days following the election, many clients and friends have reached out wondering  how President-elect Trump would affect real estate, specifically commercial real estate (CRE) in Salt Lake, Davis/Weber Counties, and Utah as a whole.  While that’s a very broad question, I’d imagine the simple answer would be that commercial real estate markets will react much like the financial markets within the US in the last day or two- remaining fairly steady with perhaps a slight rise.

However, the nature of the impacts on CRE and the economy in general is more opaque than in most election cycles, simply because policy discussions took a back seat to the large personalities during the candidates’ debates and speeches. Nevertheless, I found the some interesting observations based on a short policy statement titled “Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter,” written by three campaign advisors: investor Wilbur Ross, businessman Andy Puzder and economist Peter Navarro. The authors anticipate that the policies proposed in the statement will increase GDP from the 2.1% annualized rate that has prevailed in the current expansion to the range of 3.5% to 4.0%, although mainstream economists question this.

Let’s hope for the best!