How to bring families into Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — In January 2024, during her State of the City address, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall emphasized the importance of a demographic she considers essential to a thriving community: families.

Nearly one year later, she told Deseret News that the message still rings true.

"If a city isn't explicitly focused on making their city welcoming for families, then they will be displaced by the natural market," Mendenhall said. Housing has been one economic factor Mendenhall has honed in on to bring more families into the city to stay.

"The creation of family sized housing units, and particularly family sized affordable housing, and the opportunity for ownership or wealth generation through housing, have been some of the flagship actions we've taken this year," the mayor said.

One flagship action currently under construction is housing being developed by the Perpetual Housing Fund, a nonprofit organization focused on creating personal equity for its residents, and one Mendenhall's office invested $10 million in.

The housing program is unique in that it shares the benefits of homeownership with its residents. According to the housing fund website, the program shares "the majority of all annual cashflow, long-term equity generation, and future refinance/sale proceeds of a project with the residents who live there." Each resident holds a 75% ownership stake in their respective buildings.

But, as residents move in and out, they are allocated a portion of the organization's profits and equity based on the duration of their stay. They also benefit from reduced mortgage balances, property value appreciation and annual cash flow distributions, as if they held the title themselves.

More than 60% of the builds are family-friendly, but this infusion of family-sized units is not actually unique in the current market that's developing in Salt Lake City, she said, because her office has highlighted family size by investing "tens of millions of dollars that we are putting out into the private market to create affordability."

Since her State of the City last January, Mendenhall said the Redevelopment Agency allocated $17.7 million included for family sized housing, meaning housing with three or more bedrooms.

"If you are a developer and you are willing to create family-sized units as a component of your development, you will score higher when applying for our low interest rate capital," she said. "And then the $17.7 million is going to add 1,500 more affordable units to the market. And that's just this year's investment."

Is luxury-style living still in demand?

When looking at Salt Lake City's current real estate demands, Alex McEwen, associate broker at Selling Utah Real Estate and head of McEwen Realtors, said there is a strong demand for high-end living in Salt Lake City's real estate market.

"But there is even more demand for affordable and high-quality housing," she said, adding that the state is putting pressure on cities to create more affordable housing options.

"Builders would be smart to find a way to capitalize on this push for affordable housing, and cities would be wise to incentivize builders to create these opportunities. Even without any city incentives, builders who find ways to create quality, affordable housing options for the masses will be rewarded with strong demand for their products."

"Demand relative to supply doesn't really start to taper off consistently until we get to about $1.75 million," McEwen said. "Looking at price increments of $250,000, the two most in-demand price points (defined by market absorption rate and median days on the market) are $250,000-500,000 and $1.25-1.5 million."

J. Fisher Companies, a Utah real estate developer, broke ground in November on The Edison, Salt Lake City's upcoming modern apartment complex. It is one of the many projects in its $250 million investment in Salt Lake City coming to fruition in the next 12 months.

"We focused on crafting a space where form meets function, where beauty isn't just something to be admired, but a catalyst for connection and well-being," said landscape architect Robb Bergg, president of Design Workshop.

"This multifamily community is designed with intention, ensuring that every detail enhances the experience of living here, from properly designed homes to welcoming public spaces," he added.

Those who call The Edison's 201 apartments and penthouses home will have access to a golf simulator, pool and spa deck, lounge areas and indoor parking, the website boasts. As a way to revamp Salt Lake City's 2nd & 2nd Neighborhood, the base floor will comprise 201 market-rate units and nearly 8,500 square feet of retail and restaurants.

J. Fisher Companies marketing director Sarah Boyle told the Deseret News that the company is not set on a target resident market and that it is too soon to predict the listing prices. That said, Boyle emphasized that the development heavily focuses on reactivating the streetscape by bringing the community together through the ground-floor public spaces.

Salt Lake's housing market heading into 2025

If Salt Lake's real estate market was a fire, McEwen said it would be "warm and strong and burning steadily, with plenty of fuel in the form of a strong job market and the amenities and infrastructure that attract buyers from all over."

The median home sale of a home as of November was $575,000, an 11.1% increase in the last year, per Redfin. Even though homes sat on the market longer, more sold this year at a higher price than they did last November.

Read the entire story at Deseret.com.

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