Anchorage needs to dramatically increase the number of housing built annually to keep up with demand. That was a key takeaway from the Anchorage Home Builders Association economic summit Wednesday in Anchorage.
The average single-family home price in Anchorage jumped to $524,000, according to data presented at the meeting. That’s $68,000 more than the average in 2022.
The city needs to build 1000 new housing units each year, up from about 200 annually right now, according to mayor Suzanne LaFrance.
She said her administration is focused on making more housing available by incentivizing construction, removing regulatory barriers, and improving customer service in the city permit department.
“We’re trying to learn our lessons from what’s not working now to craft incentives that will actually spur development in the real world,” she said.
Home builders are feeling the demand for affordable housing.
Cook Inlet Housing Authority serves low and moderate income Alaskans, and they’re the main provider for affordable housing in Anchorage. Right now, they’re in the process of leasing 59 units in Spenard and Mountain View, and more than 600 Alaskans have already applied, according to Tyler Robinson, vice president of community development, real estate and planning at Cook Inlet Housing Authority.
Robinson said it’s not a question of if something will sell, but if it can get built. And building more housing, he said, should be a team effort.
“We’re really working kind of in silos,” he said. “What I really think we need in Anchorage is for our assembly, our mayor, her administration, and all of us that are housing advocates to work together.”
The organization builds various types of homes, but Robinson said they’ve been building multiple units on larger lots of land, like apartments. He said that forces him to be creative by making smaller living spaces comfortable and livable.
He has an idea of building “skinny” houses, which are homes on narrow lots of land, in Anchorage.
“I think ultimately our ability to build housing in Anchorage will define whether or not Anchorage is successful. We’ve got to take chances. We’ve gotta do some things quickly,” said Robinson.
53% of Anchorage homes were built between 1970-1980, according to the Department of Labor, and since then, the rate of homebuilding has slowed significantly.
Connie Yoshimura, broker of realty group Berkshire Hathaway, said people are choosing to move to the Matanuska Susitna Borough because it has more new, affordable housing.
Yoshimura said builders should care about people moving north because it’ll further the divide for affordable housing.
“On a long term basis, over the next 20 years, Anchorage is going to become a place for the very wealthy or the subsidized poor, for housing,” Yoshimura said. “There’s very little middle [or] in between.”
Most new residents moving to the Borough had lived in Anchorage for at least a year prior, according to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Forces and Trends report.
Ava White reports on economics and hosts the statewide morning news at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at awhite@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8445. Read more about Ava here.
