The West’s housing crunch began over a decade ago. Here’s why

Source: KSL.com — 

LAS VEGAS — As Western states, including Utah, Idaho, Arizona and Nevada, cap off two years of record-breaking home sales and price increases, it’s important to note the West’s housing crunch began long before the COVID-19 pandemic threw the national housing market into upheaval.

That’s because the entire U.S. — and especially burgeoning Western states — has been facing a housing shortage for over a decade now after homebuilding contracted in 2009 amid the Great Recession.