Institutional investors may be restricted from buying Utah homes
Jan 22, 2025, 8:00 PM
House Democratic Leader Angela Romero speaks as members of the Utah House Democratic Caucus talk about their priorities during the legislative session as part of a press conference held at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the first day of the legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. One of the priorities is addressing the housing crisis by preventing institutional investors from buying Utah homes. (Isaac Hale/Deseret News)
(Isaac Hale/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Democratic lawmakers in Utah said they will prioritize “getting back to basics” during the 2025 legislative session. And they said part of that is a commitment to making home-buying easier in Utah.
That’s the impetus behind HB149, sponsored by Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo. As currently written, the bill would “restrict an institutional investor’s ability to purchase single-family homes in this state.”
Related: How Utah is ensuring homes go to owners, not renters
“It is problematic when you have these big corporations buying up homes,” said Utah House Minority Leader, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City.
“And we can look at Moab, we can look at some other places where it’s really hurt their economy and the people that are the everyday workers there.”
According to Redfin, the median sales price of a home in Salt Lake City is $525,000. In Moab, the median sales price of a home is $461,000, which the agency reports is down by more than 32% since 2024.
A 2022 report from KSL TV highlighted the difficulties faced by people who work in Moab but can’t necessarily live in Moab. At that time, KSL found people living “unconventionally,” in some cases living in RVs and outside the city limits.
Are institutional investors buying homes in Utah?
Clancy’s legislation focuses on “institutional investors” purchasing single-family homes in Utah. Lawmakers define institutional investors as an “entity that makes investments on behalf of someone else. Examples include pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, university endowments, hedge funds and others.”
A Utah legislative report citing Redfin data showed that, nationally, in the first quarter of 2023, investors purchased more than 17% of homes that were for sale.
The same report found that investors bought more than 48% of low-priced homes in the first quarter of 2023. According to Redfin, this was the highest share in two years.
In Utah, the Utah legislative report showed that “mega investors” accounted for 0.5% of all purchases between 2012 and 2016. But they accounted for 1.4% of all purchases in 2021 and 1.75% of all purchases in 2022.
What can Democrats in the Utah Legislature do?
Romero admits Democrats can have limited impact in Utah.
“As House Democrats, we’re the super minority, so we’re going to have to work with our majority colleagues to get any of these ideas over the finish line,” she said.
