How could Dane County fix its first-time homebuyer woes?

As local governments struggle to address the rising cost of housing, fixing the “broken ladder” into homeownership was top of mind at Dane County’s Regional Housing Summit this week.

A range of statistics tells the story of the growing unaffordability of homeownership.

The median age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old, up from someone in their late 20s during the 1980s, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Single-family home prices have risen sharply in recent years, limiting prospective first-time homebuyers’ access to the market. In 2010, the median home price in Dane County was $207,000. By the end of last year, it had risen to over $450,000...

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Leo's notes: Expanding the supply of starter homes, townhomes, condominiums, and other "missing middle" housing will be essential if communities hope to restore homeownership as an achievable pathway to financial stability for the next generation.

Ken Notes: The key here is that ALL the players need to be at the same table with the same objective in mind. Government can not solve the problem, neither can developers, builders, bankers, or the dozens of organizations and businesses with housing on their agendas. But working together we can get this moving forward.