September 2024 | Urban Utah Homes and Estates

Utah’s housing supply is still facing several challenges with not too much hope in sight. Housing supply drives affordability, so like any commodity, when the supply is low, prices are high. Housing production in Utah has been declining for years, from 37,000 housing starts in 2021 to 19,000 in 2023. Estimates for 2024 are that we won’t beat 2023’s numbers.

Why why why is this happening? Labor shortages: Builders say that labor shortages are a major factor in the lack of new homes. Damn, and after the hottest summer on record who is seeking out roofing jobs, exterior painting, window installs and the like? Land prices: High land prices like we’ve never seen before. Zoning laws: Municipal zoning, fees, and regulations. Home prices: Home prices in Utah are high and wages are not keeping up with housing costs. Housing affordability: Utah is trending as one of the least affordable states to buy a home.

In an attempt to increase the supply of “attainable” homes, the Utah legislature created new tools to encourage new home prices around $350,000 to $450,000. HB527 allows for the Transportation Investment Fund to create a three-year program to offer low-interest loans to developers building affordable housing developments in the state by allowing the State Treasurer to tap into $300 million from the state’s already existing funds. Sadly, that price range is rare along the Wasatch Front, and according to the Wasatch Front MLS there are only 1,290 homes listed for sale statewide under an offering price of $450,000, 139 in Salt Lake Co., 62 in Davis Co., and 75 in Utah Co. Summit Co. has 8 homes offered under that price point, 6 in Wasatch Co., and there are 96 in Washington Co. in the St. George area.

This summer the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen unveiled several housing proposals this summer, including a $100 million fund to Community Development Financial Institutions to assist in helping finance new housing projects around the country, and a plan to reduce the costs of state and local housing finance agencies that would allow them to borrow federal money as the same rate as the federal government that will help more FHA loans. She called on the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks to devote 20% of their net income to housing programs around the country, to help with down payment assistance for buyers as well as getting loans to developers.

We’ve got about two months until the Presidential election. The two major candidates have vast ideas to help solve the U.S. housing crisis. Both believe state and local regulations are what causes prices to rise and each are touting fixes like offering federal tax credits of $25,000 for new homebuyers and getting millions of federal dollars out into communities that are struggling most with affordability. If you think affordable housing is an important issue, please VOTE this November. Register to vote at: www.secure.utah.gov/voterreg

September 11^th, 2001 seems like a lifetime ago. That date, burned into many of our brains was when the twin towers fell in NYC and killed almost 3,000 people. At the time of the terrorist attack, the World Trade Center’s twin towers were the tallest buildings in NYC-1,369 and 1,362 feet tall, respectively. They were later replaced by One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet tall which is the tallest building in the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere. Why mention this? Salt Lake City is undergoing a massive push by some to create even taller buildings in the capitol city, mostly touted as a necessary improvement to our zoning rules by the Smith Entertainment Group who are attempting to redesign and build in an integral part of downtown.

Currently the residential/business project known now as Astra Tower on the corner of State Street and 200 South is hovering over pedestrians at 450 feet and 40-stories tall, but the Salt Lake City Council unanimously approved a zoning change last week that increases the maximum building height in the Smith Entertainment Group sports and entertainment district in and around the Delta Center from a current 125 feet to 600 feet. There was one caveat tho, “Any structure that is 200 feet or taller will need to go through a design review by the Planning and Zoning Commission”. It’s my opinion that our P and Z Commission is made up of pretty tough volunteer planners who have proven in the past to have foresight as to how our city should grow and I’m glad they will be involved in design review. As a planner myself for eight years with the city we worked for over a year, every month, with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to get the entire City Creek project off the ground, including not just the teardown of Crossroads Mall but the build of the retail mall on two sides of Main Street and the condo/apartment buildings surrounding it in their new project. There were a ton of variances required and rules changed to get certain aspects of the project to fruition.

You may have strong opinions about high rises filling up Salt Lake’s downtown. Depending on if you’re pro-development or anti-growth you probably had strong feelings about the Hines Group tearing down the historic Utah Theater at 150 South Main Street to build an apartment tower. Now the developer is putting a pause on the project and wants to fill in the gap on the street with a parking lot until they actually launch their project and bring in the construction crews. They got a sweet deal from the RDA-‘buying’ the property from Salt Lake City for zero bucks in exchange for building new housing with plans for public amenities in and around the building but have postponed plans now for two years with what they allege are the high costs of construction.

Affordability

High Rises