Soaring Home Prices Leave 91% of Renters Unable To Buy in This Western State

Home prices in Utah continue to increase, putting 91% of renters out of the running to become homeowners, according to a new report.

The median sale price across all housing types in Utah rose to $520,000 in the first quarter of 2026, an increase from the median price of $500,000 a year earlier, according to the 2025–26 State of the State’s Housing Market report conducted by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

This exceeds the state’s previous high median sales price, which was $502,000 in 2022, after which the prices temporarily dropped back into the high $400,000s.

“Rapid post-pandemic growth drove housing prices to record highs in 2022 before entering more stable periods. Since 2024, Utah’s market increased by 3.6% across all housing types,” the report reads.

Utah ranks as the 10th most expensive market for single-family homes, which had a median sales price of $559,900 in the first quarter of 2026. In 2016, the median price for a single-family home was $249,900.

To afford a median-priced home in Utah with a 10% down payment in 2026, the annual income required is $146,800, much higher than Utah’s median household income of $96,658.

Renter households in the state have a median income of just $64,000, and only 4.9% of homes sold in 2025 were affordable to buyers at that income level, the study found.

Renters in apartments saw a glimmer of relief this year, as there were more apartments available than renters. For every 100 households earning no more than 80% of the area median income, 108 affordable rental units were available in 2025, an increase from the 100 units available in 2023.

This led to a 2.3% decline in asking prices for apartments from March 2024 to March 2026. Over the same period, however, rents for single-family detached homes and townhomes increased 8.5% and 8.3%, respectively.

From 2010 to 2016, paying a monthly mortgage was more affordable than renting a comparable rental. In 2017, that number flipped, pricing renters out of the housing market.

Since 2023, monthly mortgage payments have fluctuated between $4,000 and $4,500, not including maintenance costs associated with homeownership. The average asking rent has remained between $2,500 and $2,700 during the same period, giving renters an immediate cash-flow advantage and fewer monthly expenses.

Because monthly mortgage payments have continued to increase in recent years, the State of the State’s report showed that 91% of Utah renters could not afford a median-priced home in the first quarter of 2026. Only 4.9% of homes sold in 2025 were within the budget for a renter household with the median income of $64,000, the report found.

There are programs in the state to help first-time homebuyers with the initial cost of buying a home, including the First-Time Homebuyer Assistance Program. Backed by the Utah Housing Corporation, this program offers up to $20,000 to assist with down payments, closing costs, and interest rate deductions. It is available for buyers who have resided in Utah for at least one year before closing and can be applied to properties valued below $450,000.

Those looking to save for a down payment should budget around the actual monthly median income in their area and add the surplus after expenses to a specific savings account, according to financial experts, rather than making a loose savings plan.

“The renters I work with who succeed usually stop thinking of it as ‘saving what's left over’ and start treating it like a fixed bill—automating a transfer the day they get paid, before anything else touches that money,” Matthew Scarborough of Scarborough Realty Group tells Realtor.com®. “It sounds simple, but it's the difference between having $0 and having $15,000 saved in two years.”