Utah housing study shows 91% of renters priced out of homeownership
· KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Utah's housing affordability improved slightly in 2025 but remains challenging for renters.
- The average mortgage payment is $3,669, pricing out 91% of renters.
- Median home prices rose to $520,000; affordable rental units availability improved slightly.
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah's housing affordability improved slightly in 2025, but many would-be homebuyers are priced out of the market, a new study found.
The State of the State's Housing Market report, published by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, was released on Wednesday. It found that with an average monthly mortgage payment of $3,669, homeownership is out of reach for roughly 91% of renters in Utah.
The median sales price for all housing types in Utah – including single-family, townhomes and condos – sits at $520,000, according to the report. That's up from $500,000 in 2025. Homeownership in the state has dropped to near historical lows, the study found, most notably among households under age 35.
State of the State's Housing Market: 2025-2026
The report, however, offers a few small silver linings for homebuyers.
First, the estimated income needed to afford a median-priced home with a 10% down payment fell slightly, from $149,000 in 2025 to $147,000 in 2026.
Second, the average mortgage payment has declined slightly since last year.
Third, the availability of affordable rental units has improved, although it can vary by county.
"While moderate-income rental conditions are improving, deeply affordable housing remains in short supply," wrote Dejan Eskic and Moira Dillow, analysts at the Gardner Institute who authored the report.
Homeowner equity
While potential homebuyers are struggling in the current housing market, most existing homeowners are not.
The report found that average equity for Utah homes with a mortgage hit a high of $304,570 in early this year. Additionally, very few homeowners – just around 600 – are underwater, meaning they owe more on their home than it is worth.
That's much lower than the nearly 60,000 homes in Utah that were underwater in 2013.
"The near disappearance of negative equity reduces one of the central risks that intensified the financial crisis," the authors wrote. "Homeowners who owe more than their property value have fewer options when they experience a job loss, a reduction in income, or another financial shock. Owners with positive equity are generally better positioned to sell the home, restructure their finances or resolve the mortgage before foreclosure becomes necessary."
Rental market
The report tells a tale of two rental markets. On the one hand, the study found, the average asking rent for single-family homes across Utah's most populous counties – Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Washington and Weber – rose by 8.5% from March 2024 to March 2026. Asking rents for townhomes rose by 8.3% over the same period.
Meanwhile, asking rents for apartments in those counties fell by 2.3%, according to the report. Those prices remain almost 9% below their peak in June 2022.
"The resulting divergence results from the apartment market continuing to deliver more supply than demand," the authors wrote.
What does the future hold?
The State of the State's Housing Market projects that Utah's population will exceed 4 million by 2035, creating a need for 280,000 more housing units to keep up with demand.
The report says the most affordable homes are smaller homes built on smaller lots.
"The 2025 sales data show that smaller homes create a more affordable supply for the market, and that increasing the supply of homes below the state's $450,000 benchmark remains central to sustaining homeownership opportunities," the authors wrote.
That benchmark refers to the maximum purchase price set by the state of Utah to qualify for the state's first-time homebuyer program, which gives those buyers up to $20,000 to spend on a down payment, closing costs, or buying down the interest rate on a newly constructed home.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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Daniel Woodruff
Daniel Woodruff is a Utah native who reports for KSL 5 News at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and fill-in anchors at KSL.