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Show xThe age of the declining ; expectations' discussed I money to afford housing. Households also spend less on other consumer items as housing costs absorb larger proportions of their incomes. Consumer Information Writer Most of us are experiencing the phenomenon of not being able to afford af-ford the houses we grew up in. That is, we have less real housing purchasing pur-chasing power now than our parents did at a similar stage of life. This is part of an economic trend that is sometimes called 'the age of declining expectations." According to Dr. Joan McFadden, housing specialist in the Utah State University College of Family Life, the trend of high housing hous-ing costs is likely to continue through the '90s. The proportion of people who own (65 percent) versus renting (35 percent) will remain fairly constant. What is changing is how people adapt to higher housing costs. According to Century 21 Realty statistics, the national average price for a home in 1989 was $100,204. The average price for Utah was approximately ap-proximately $61,000. There were 12 states with average house prices lower than Utah. The state with the highest average price was Hawaii at ( $225,000. For instance, McFadden says, the higher price of housing has made the two income family the norm for home ownership, and in some cases unrelated people are pooling their The price of housing in the '90s ' will also affect personal and cor-porate cor-porate decisions to relocate. New job opportunities may be weighed- on the basis of changing housing markets, McFadden says. Although most of the housing " ; market is shifting toward frugality, she says the top end of the home buying population don't seem to be . building smaller homes. The high end homes are in fact getting bigger . and more luxurious. Most of the building permits for new single family houses in Utah seem to be on the high end. McFadden says the predictions for the rest of the '90s also seem to point toward an increasing demand for vacation homes as the affluent " baby boomers come of age. The tax ' advantage of deducting the interest on a second home is still .attractive to upper income levels. ' She says the rule of thumb for-housing for-housing when interest rates are near" 10 percent, is that you should not1 spend more than 28-30 percent of1 your monthly gross income on housing (including utilities) or pur" chase a home for more than 2.5 '' times your annual gross income. In regards to rentals and condominiums, con-dominiums, McFadden says there are more multiplexes of 2-8 units attached horizontally, vertically or both. In some areas of the country more amenities such as swimming pools, lush landscaping and large open areas are being provided to compensate for smaller units. Other areas of the country, however, are reducing these types of frills in an effort to minimize housing costs, she says. McFadden says the trend is for younger first-time buyers to buy older homes and for older retirement retire-ment or near retirement age buyers to purchase newer, easier to maintain main-tain houses. |