Idaho Mortgage Seekers Face Affordable Housing Crises

In the Idaho housing market …

If you are in the market for a high-end house, you’re in luck.

If you’re in the market for a low-priced house, take a number and stand in line.

If you are a builder or developer, you might want to re-read the above sentences before deciding what kind of house to build. After all, affordable dwellings are difficult to come by for Idaho mortgage seekers these days.

That’s the message from local and national real estate experts in response to the recent downshift in the Treasure Valley housing market.

Following more than a decade of boom, the Treasure Valley housing market this year will continue to undergo a market correction that started last year.

“We’ve been through a heckuva transition period,” from decades of stagnant growth to an unprecedented valleywide boom to a minor bust in the form of a housing market slowdown, John Starr told an audience of more than 200 people Tuesday at an Urban Land Institute conference in Boise.

Local and national experts had some advice for the sold out crowd — build more affordable housing, monitor the glut of high-end homes and pace development with city services to support it.

Idaho is ranked third nationally for growth. Experts predict the Gem State will hold that spot through 2030, provided key players — developers, mortgage loan lenders, business and political leaders — pay careful attention to the market.

LACK OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The Ada County median household income has stayed flat for the past few years at about $56,000, while home prices soared 50 to 60 percent during the same period, said Starr, with Colliers International Boise office.

“You cannot have a work force live in Ada County if all they can afford is a Canyon County home,” he said.

The solution is multi-faceted: Income must go up, housing prices must come down and developers must build more affordable homes and fewer high-end homes.

Ada County has a 2.3 percent unemployment rate; Canyon County’s is 3.1 percent. While this is a good incentive for people to move the Valley, it may not be an incentive for large businesses to move here.

That’s the downside to a low unemployment rate, Starr said, a lack of employable work force. Starr said a community college is critical to bringing higher-paying jobs to the area and keeping Idahoans applying for home mortgage loans in Idaho.

“Idaho has never sustained job growth for its children,” panelist Jim Adair said. “You have exported your children for decades.”

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