ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
The market for housing in the Anchorage bowl has been tightening and could become even more challenging within the next few years. The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation said it is not just people who are looking to buy who will face higher prices.
AHFC's Dir. Planning and Programming Development, Mark Romick, said, "as the population grows, it kind of creates a supply and demand situation for the rental market."
A 2012 Anchorage study by the McDowell Group determined that the land availability does not meet the forecasted housing demand over the next 20 years.
"All of that pressure that's going on right now with a lack of land, slope development of apartments, and high demand for rental units means that all of us collectively have to think about ways to build more housing for people particularly rental housing," Romick said.
Rental housing, he said does have some obvious advantages.
"If you have an acre of land and you wanna build one single family home, you might only help one household but if you have an acre of land and you wanna build 20 or 30 units of rental housing you can help essentially more households," Romick said.
But while rental housing may be more abundant, the price may not be so affordable.
Romick said, "I think we've already started to feel the effects. In the last several years rental rates have risen probably 4 or 5 percent a year."
Roy Briley who owns Every Alaska Home, a real estate brokerage company, and 25 rental properties said selling houses has its challenges too.
"There is less homes available and more buyers, so as the supply diminishes, the prices are starting to come up and we're seeing multiple offers virtually in every price range," Briley said.
Briley said, "As far as supply right now we have 2.25 months of inventory on the market and that just means that if not another home were listed right now, we'd run out of inventory in about 2 months."
While inventory for a little more than one month may seem concerning, Briley said he sees room for hope.
"They're moving up ever so slightly right now because the buyer has been very careful in their forward thinking. Are they going to keep their jobs as the market continues to be healthy and strong in their work environment?" he said.
The challenge in any economy is a healthy relationship between market confidence and the market for housing.
