Below are some reasons that military service members are not choosing to buy a home while in service or after service in Utah——
- Amount of closing costs, prepays, escrow, earnest money, inspection, appraisal fees etc to be paid upfront (house poor).
- Depending on the Market and Realtor negotiation skills, they don’t negotiate for buyers behalf and ask for concessions to alleviate the burden on veterans.
- Sellers do not know much about veterans and the loan process and are fearful of not being able to get a quick sale due to VA appraisal and inspection rules.
- High Interest rates.
- VA loan stigma as it is believed that closing cost are too high that includes the funding fee or believe they cannot qualify for the loan due to low credit score or Debt to Equity ratio is too high.
- Loan officers are not trained and educated on VA loans and do not know what Utah financial assistance are available to them like Veterans first time home buyer loans or grants and therefore do not mention.
- Utah veterans first time home buying grant has received applicants and when funds are exhausted it takes months to apply.
- Utah applicants for the grant may still have to pay for entire closing costs and not get reimbursed until after closing if application is not presented in time.
- Requirements on the Veterans grant eligibility for first time home buyers are more strict and deter some from applying due to no more than 7 years discharged from military and 5 year and not purchased a house in Utah.
- Hill AFB and other military installations BAH rates not in line with Utaha’s true cost of living.
- Price of homes too high in Utah. Average home sales are 545.000.
- Home rentals are more in line with military BAH rates and are more appealing to the service member who may rotate less than 2 years to another stateside assignment or oversees assignment.
- Proximity to affordable housing for military is not as convenient as on base housing even though the on post housing has a wait list and is often not as well maintained.
- Not enough affordable housing for enlisted service members
- Utah charges state tax and the military do not want to change residency and pay state tax on their active duty income.
- Military Housing on the Base is cheaper than housing costs in nearby communities even if subpar.
- One family income with military service members makes it difficult to get financed for a family.
Demographics
About 7.4% of homes in Utah are occupied by veterans, which is approximately 76,906 homes.
Over 90% of military retiree households in Utah own their homes, which is higher than the home ownership rate for other retirees.
About 5% of Utah’s adult population are veterans, which is more than 116,000 people.
Some Utah military families are forced to live in on-base housing due to the high cost of living in the state.
The housing market has also outpaced the Utah BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing).
“More than 40% of the Air Force’s and Army’s buildings had exceeded their expected lifespan,” (Source: 2024-08 60192 CBO maintenance backlog report)
The occupancy for on-base privatized housing is 98%,
In 2022, 31.70% of Utah veterans had a disability compared with 12.30% of the nonveteran population.
Utah has the 38th highest veterans population.
The population share of Utah veterans has been dropping in recent years, down 3 percentage points since 2012.
- Age Two-thirds of Utah veterans are at least 55 years old, and 44% are at least 65 years old.
- Service Nearly a third of Utah veterans served in the Vietnam Era, about 15% served in Gulf War II, and about 1 in 8 served in Gulf War. Utah has 5,377 active-duty service members. 2,285 active-duty spouses. 4,538 active-duty children. 14,055 National Guard and reserve members.
- Economic impact Veterans contribute $3.2 billion to the Utah economy and support over 36,000 jobs. The total economic impact of the military in Utah is $19.3 billion.
- Benefits Utah is Veteran Friendly and offers special benefits for Service members, Veterans, and their families, including a disabled Veteran property tax exemption, Veterans’ hiring preference, state education, and tuition assistance, free admission to state parks, vehicle license plates, as well as hunting and fishing license privileges.
In 2022, 5.80% of veterans in Utah earned income below the poverty line, compared with 8.20% of nonveterans.