The Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors sees a persistent need for more housing units in the Fayette County area.
Lexington Finance Commissioner Bill O’Mara told members of the council’s budget committee last week home foreclosures have been declining.
While agreeing that foreclosures are down considerably from the time of the recession ten years ago, Realtors Association President Ty Brown says the housing stock remains at a low level.
“Probably the biggest pressing issue right now in Fayette County and surrounding counties is the number of home available for people to sale,” noted Brown. “There’s more people wanting to buy them than there are available, which will eventually start to lead to driving up prices to make them less affordable to people.”
Brown says Lexington could use about 2,200 new housing units annually. But, Brown says, it’s topped out at about 1,200 to 1,400 for several years.?
The Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors hasn’t taken a position on whether or not to expand the urban services boundary. Expanding the boundary for city services would open up more acreage for commercial and residential development.
Brown says he and fellow realtors can see both sides of the debate over the urban service boundary. “We want to sustain what makes Fayette County great. You know, it’s beautiful. But, at the same time, there’s need to be availability to people. If they want to live here, they should be able to do so in an affordable way,” explained Brown.
Brown made his comments following a realtor association sponsored education event last week in Lexington.
