The January 2017 issue of Utah Business magazine features the Sales & Marketer of the Year (SAMY) awards as well as the “2017 Real Estate Outlook,” exploring Utah’s unprecedented recovery from the 2007-08 crash.

Sales & Marketer of the Year:

When a company succeeds, it’s easy to give credit to the president or CEO. When a product makes a big splash, it’s natural to praise the developers that made it. While those rounds of applause aren’t unearned, praise is due for the backbone of any company: sales and marketers. Without sales, a company’s revenue would plummet, and without marketing, customers wouldn’t know about even the most innovative products.

2017 Real Estate Outlook:

Nearly a decade has passed since the housing market crash implanted longstanding nightmares in the minds of realtors and homebuyers everywhere. Across the country, scars from the crash still remain – in the confidence of those wanting to sell their homes, in millennial and first-time homebuyers, and even in unemployment rates in those areas of the country hardest hit.

In Utah, with its strong economy, low unemployment, high (and young) marriage rate, and increase in population – the state’s population hit 3 million in 2016 and is ranked as the fastest growing state in the nation by the U.S. Census Bureau – the housing market has thawed from its freeze in 2007-08. In fact, it’s done more than thaw: With inventory at historic lows and homes flying off the market, Utah’s residential real estate market is practically reaching a boiling point.