Utah has a goal to build more beginners: NPR

City Plain, Utah – Miranda and Cole Potokar, who is 23 years old, spoke a lot with friends about his terrible timing in the housing market.

“We’ll make jokes like,” What was I doing in the third row? I should buy a house instead of learning, as you know, beating! “Miranda says.

The young couple came in the north of Utah, where housing prices walked in most parts of the country steadily, then sharply. Uta is now One of the most batch markets. This is fueled by the increasing demand from Family sizes that are greater From those elsewhere in the United States, in addition to more people Moving to the state.

After marriage two years ago, Potokars decided to live in the cellar of Miranda’s ancestors to provide an introduction batch. But when they started searching a year or so ago, they were shocked. Even old places were high prices, and things sold very quickly.

“He woke up the next morning, he went,” says Cole. “The market will be very aggressive.”

So they decided to surrender for a while.

The average age of the home buyers in the United States is now 38 years old, which is a standard number

Persons like Botokarin are exactly who Utah, governor of Utah Spencer Cox, was in his mind when he achieved an ambitious goal about a year and a half ago: building 35,000 low -cost homes in five years.

The Republican Governor told dozens of mayors at the Housing Summit in May: “The American dream of housing ownership is slowly sliding but steadily away from a lot, out of the reach of our children and grandchildren.”

The average home prices in the United States in a ScoreIncluding approximately 50 % over the past five years. In Utah, they are more than the national average, more Half a million dollars.

The primary driver is a large shortage of homes. Add to this high inflation and interest rates, and real estate loans are far for many. And hit the average age from the home buyers Record above 38Even from 31 decades.

To encourage developers to build more places that people can bear, the legislators in Utah agreed last year Low -use construction loans For beginners. This year, they sought the program to include start apartments. These incentives follow a series of other laws in recent years that aim to encourage all types Intensity, less expensive housing.

But so far, the builders were slow to sign. At the May summit, Cox’s governor told the mayors that about 5100 starting houses had been built or started.

“We are on our way, but we strongly need to do more. We need to move faster,” he said.

Utah did not make the bolder changes that housing experts say it is necessary

Cox has made housing at reasonable prices and brings it over and repeatedly in manifestations throughout the state.

He has appealed to the builders to help fill this important gap in the market, even if, he says, “You may be able to do so Earn more money Doing something else.

“It somewhat says,” We all need chips here. “I haven’t seen tangible steps that would move the needle at the present time,” says Andra Ghost, a MPA professor.

She and others Housing experts Say that the best way to create smaller homes at reasonable prices is to change the laws division and allow the laws Many sizes. An increasing number of countries – including Texas, recently – I intervened and did so, they made a controversial decision to anticipate local laws. The governor of Utah state suggested this, but the legislators said no.

“Many municipalities throughout the state have sizes of no less than a quarter of an acre,” Ghost says. “This is a lot of volume … if the developers are stuck in a minimum size, they will build luxury homes.”

Giving home buyers for the first time an opportunity in Utah

The lack of changing the division of complete areas did not prevent a developer north of Solt Lake City from facing the ruler’s challenge.

Jed Nilson sits on the balcony of a completely new house during construction trucks through his latest project in Plain. Head Nelson homesHis father founded in 1977. But he started a real estate broker 26 years ago when he was in college.

“The other children who go to the college will come to buy new homes from me,” says laughing. “Because they have a job and go to the college and they can bear the costs of a house.”

Today, Nelson finds that it is worrying that even the husbands who get a university degree and university professions cannot buy one. “This is not sustainable,” he says.

Nelson has always been on a mission to find different products or methods that reduce costs but not quality. In fact, its ultimate mission is to create a house that is once again affordable on a bachelor income.

Nelson says, when the ruler announced his goal at home, many developers were skeptical. But he saw an opportunity. With the help of the state, it led to an agreement with the Weber Province, which allows him to add more houses to the development of the simple city and put it on smaller pieces that will usually open it.

Nelson is walking on the street to display the first 12 start -up houses. They sit next to the maximum price, a colored mixture of the farm, the craftsman and the Modern Mountain.

He says: “We intentionally wanted to show that we can put these starting houses at the entrance to a thousand houses because they are a beautiful structure.”

How much are they in this market? Cox’s governor talks about the desire for beginners’ homes with less than $ 400,000. Nelson sells its three -bedroom style under this little, and a smaller bedroom of about $ 370,000.

Nelson knows that he may not seem accessible to everyone, but different State program To help buyers for the first time set the maximum $ 450,000. “I mean, five years ago, it was $ 450,000 a house with high calories in this field, and now we call for a starting house,” he says.

As for its regular homes, priority is given to buyers, teachers, first respondents and active military service members. The houses must also be occupied by the owner for a contract. The company has a long waiting list, Nelson says it is “extraordinaryly unusual.”

Last spring, buyers were for the first time Miranda and Cole Potokar among the first to move.

“This is our little food angle, and it is huge,” Miranda says.

“The only thing that really attracted us to this house was, like windows,” says Cole. There is the great that allowed a lot of light. There is also space for him to work at home, and a third bedroom so they can start having children here.

They like to go in the morning marches and say they met some neighbors of their age. BotoCara says they feel very lucky.

“This is like a base not only for our family, but also … to prepare for the future,” says Cole. “In many ways, such as, we do not know.”

Nelson has 260 other homes in the pipeline here, and he hopes that his experience will stimulate more developers to advance.

“Maybe I will make less money for every home, but I get more houses. I will fix a social problem,” he says. “I mean, society cannot work when there is no room at the bottom for people to start their upward movement.”