Okay, this has nothing to do with options. But one of my favorite bloggers, Paul Kedrosky, asked a provocative question that I couldn’t resist answering: “What’s with Salt Lake City Real Estate?“ In the article, Paul wonders why SLC avoided the real estate bubble in 2006. I think I have a surprisingly timely answer. The Olympics!

SLC is the most recent U.S. city to host the Olympics. One of the things that happens during the buildup to the event is that there is a massive infrastructure upgrade: roads, sewers, hotels, and event venues. That means jobs, lots of jobs, which means migration, which means houses need to get built for all the workers coming in to improve the infrastructure.