Housing worries: Republicans more concerned for first-time homebuyers than low-income Utahns

A new residential development in Spanish Fork is pictured on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

A new report takes a deeper dive into the nuances of Utahns’ worries for the state’s housing affordability crisis — which this year ranked the No. 1 concern among voters.

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In April the independent research nonprofit Utah Foundation published results of a statewide survey gauging Utah voters’ top issues of concern. In that report, titled “Priced Out and Fed Up ,” housing affordability ranked at the top, just ahead of politicians “ignoring voters.”

Wednesday, the Utah Foundation issued another report on those findings, analyzing how Utahns think the state should address its housing affordability issues, how those opinions have changed over the past four years, and how their opinions vary across demographics.

The Utah Foundation compared its 2024 survey results with 2020 findings, and concluded that over the past four years “voters have become less concerned about affordable housing for low-income Utahns and more concerned about affordable housing for first-time home buyers.”

A shift of focus from low-income Utahns to first-time homebuyers, especially among Republicans

In 2020, 45% of Utah voters were more concerned about housing affordability for low-income Utahns, while 30% said they were concerned for first-time homebuyers and 25% said they were concerned for their own situations. In 2024, concern for low-income Utahns dropped to 35%, while 38% said they were more concerned for first-time homebuyers and 27% said they were concerned for themselves.

These shifts in attitudes likely have to do with the rapid rise of Utah’s home prices since 2020 — making home ownership increasingly difficult for not only lower-income earners, but also middle-income earners.

Opinions on what should be done, however, vary widely among differing demographic groups.

“For example, those most concerned with first-time home buyers were more likely to be conservative, higher income, non-Hispanic, white voters,” the Utah Foundation brief says. “Democrats and lower-income voters worry about low-income Utahns. Specifically, those earning less than $70,000 preferred affordable housing for low-income Utahns.”

Among Republicans, 44% said they’re most concerned about first-time homebuyers while 26% said they were more concerned about themselves and 22% said they were more concerned about low-income Utahns.

That’s compared to 56% of Democrats who said they were concerned for low-income Utahns, 30% were concerned about themselves, and 12% were concerned about first-time homebuyers.

Predictably, opinions also vary depending on income level.

Among those earning less than $40,000, 50% said they’re most concerned about low-income Utahns, 30% said they’re concerned for themselves, and 11% were concerned for first-time homebuyers.

As for those making more than $156,000, 28% said they’re concerned for low-income Utahns, 21% were concerned for themselves, and the largest share (44%) said they were concerned for first-time homebuyers.

Renters, however, are “by far the most likely group to prioritize affordable housing for low-income groups and themselves,” the report notes.

While 44% of those who already own a home said they’re most concerned for first-time homebuyers, 30% said they’re concerned for low-income Utahns. That’s compared to 58% of renters who said they’re concerned for themselves, and 33% who said they’re concerned for low-income Utahns.

Notably, the report’s partisan findings track with what Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature has been focusing on in recent years — at least when it comes to Republicans’ inclination to be concerned for first-time home buyers.

In 2023, lawmakers pumped $50 million into a new first-time homebuyer program . That program offers up to $20,000 in loans to help with down payments or buying down interest rates — but only for those buying newly-built homes with a price tag of up to $450,000. Those requirements, lawmakers said, were meant to encourage increasing Utah’s supply of homes at more affordable price points.

Earlier this year, Utah lawmakers again focused on increasing the supply of more affordable homes — but this time by creating a host of planning and financing tools meant to encourage developers to build more “starter homes .”

Time will tell whether it will work.

What’s happening with the housing market?

The COVID-19 pandemic, due to low interest rates and a sudden flexibility courtesy of remote work, spurred a home-buying frenzy, especially in traditionally cheaper places to live like the West. Utah was caught up in that frenzy, and home prices skyrocketed.

Utah’s new housing experiment

Salt Lake County saw its “steepest two-year surge” in home prices on record from 2020 to 2022, according to a report prepared for the Salt Lake Board of Realtors . In that timeframe, the median sales price of a Salt Lake County home increased by 40%, up from $380,000 in 2020 to $530,000 in 2022.

That year, home prices peaked. Then, as mortgage rates shot up amid the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tamp down on inflation, the housing market slowed and prices dipped slightly to a median of $515,000 in 2023, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. Since then home prices have been slowly increasing again as the market has slowly adjusted, but high prices and still-high mortgage rates continue to keep housing affordability top of mind.

Even before the pandemic home-buying surge, Utah housing experts for years had pointed to a worsening housing shortage that was pressuring home prices. They projected that housing shortage would only worsen to more than 37,000 in 2024 as home building constricted amid high interest rates.

That’s why home prices are expected to continue to climb: demand continues to outpace supply.

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