Gov. Spencer Cox delivers his State of the State address in the Utah House chamber at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022.
SALT LAKE CITY – One of Cache Valley’s legislative representatives figured prominently in Gov. Spencer Cox’s State of the State address on Thursday.
In his brief but inspirational speech before a joint session of the Utah House and Senate, the governor urged those lawmakers to support proposals by Rep. Joel Ferry (R-District 1) and other lawmakers aimed at addressing skyrocketing housing prices in Utah.
“Legislators,” Cox said, “this session I ask for your support of new bills spearheaded by Representatives Joel Ferry, Steve Waldrip, Joel Briscoe and Sen. Jake Anderegg to remove government requirements that needlessly increase housing prices.
“We can increase the supply (of housing) without decreasing the quality of life here,” he added. “I recognize that this will not be easy, but we cannot let our state become California.”
The legislative proposals endorsed by Cox’ remarks include House Bill 39 (State Construction Code Amendments) and House Bill 44 (Business and Labor Reporting Requirements), both introduced by Ferry, as well House Bill 36 (Commission on Housing Affordability Amendments), introduced by Waldrip.
Utah is by no means the only state struggling to cope with rising prices for housing. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis indicates that housing prices nationwide jumped by an average of $50,000 since 2020.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) attributes that cost increase to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Real estate analysts say that mortgage rates fell significantly in 2020, driving up demand for homes and encouraging apartment-dwelling millennials to become homeowners.
At the same time, construction of new homes declined due to labor shortages and increased costs of building materials.
Those factors combined to create the biggest sellers’ market in U.S. history, with the average cost of an American home jumping to $374,900.
Here in Utah, the cost of an average home ($465,012) already exceeds the national average, but Cox’s warning about housing prices in California is still timely. The realtors’ association reports that the average cost of a home in California was $683,996 in 2021.
“For the first time ever,” Cox explained, “people on the Wasatch Front are experiencing something that those of us from rural Utah have been feeling for far too long. That’s the terrible realization that their kids and grandkids might not be able to live near us.”
In rural Utah, he said, that problem results from a lack of jobs. Along the Wasatch Front nowadays, unsustainable increases in housing prices tend to drive young adults to live elsewhere.
Ferry represents House District 1, which includes Box Elder County and the Cache Valley communities of Clarkston, Cornish and Newton. Waldrip is a Republican representing parts of Weber County while Briscoe is a Democrat hailing from Salt Lake County. Andertegg represents parts of Salt Lake and Utah counties in the Utah Senate.