Buying a home used to be a rite of passage for most young people. But increasingly, homeownership is out of reach for many. Record-high housing prices and higher mortgage rates, driven by inflation, have made the goal of homeownership harder than ever to achieve. In July 2023, the National Association of Realtors reported a near-record national median single-family sale price of $406,700. At this price and at the high mortgage rates the nation is currently facing, homeownership is becoming more challenging to achieve than ever before.
Besides affordability and interest issues, the biggest reason people are struggling to become homeowners is a significant housing supply shortage. Data from Axios shows that the US is short 3.2 million homes to meet the current housing demand. This shortage continues to drive higher housing prices as people compete for little inventory left in the market.
As a plumbing and HVAC firm specializing in multi-family construction, the current housing crisis is on our minds. We firmly believe that multi-family developments can help solve the current housing woes. In 2019, the American Housing Survey and the US Census Bureau released data that showed that 31.4% of housing in the US at that time were multi-family units. Construction in multi-family units only increased, especially in areas where it has traditionally lagged, like in our service area of the Intermountain West. We believe that part of the reason multi-family construction is booming is because it’s a viable option for helping solve housing issues, and to give people a chance to own their home. Here are a few reasons why multi-family developments can help in the current housing crisis.
- Affordable homeownership options: For many people, the price of a single-family home is unattainable at current prices. However, a mortgage on a multi-family unit may be an affordable option. Buying this type of property first may be an excellent way for people to build up equity and save money on high rents so they can one day purchase a single-family home.
- Affordable renting options: Many multi-family units are being developed for affordable or low-income housing. About 12 million households currently pay 50% or more of their annual income toward housing costs. Subsidized multi-family projects backed by government programs can help alleviate those costs and increase the availability of low-income rental units on the market.
- Newer-build properties: One of the reasons the housing crisis is so dire is that most of the housing supply is aging. The average median home age in the US is 43. Many homes are much older, especially affordable ones, and they will require renovations and retrofits to meet safety codes and adapt to climate change. New multi-family developments are built for today and feature the latest building technology to meet the newest energy and safety standards. An influx of multi-family developments could help make newer homes more accessible.
We’ve worked on many multi-family developments and are proud of our work. Our plumbing and HVAC work is designed to last and service these developments for years. One of the reasons we focus so heavily on quality in our work is that we believe these multi-family developments are crucial in light of the housing marketing conditions we are facing in the US. These developments can help alleviate the issues people are facing in the housing crisis and make housing more affordable for all.
