A housing development, Innovation Park at Francis Commons, is pictured in Francis, Utah on Sept. 16, 2025. (Courtesy of Ivory Innovations)

Utah’s most expensive housing prices in Summit and Wasatch counties — home to high-end ski resorts and popular mountain towns of Park City, Heber and Kamas — are in the millions. 

In Park City, the median single family home sells for $3.95 million, and condos sell for $1.85 million, according to the Park City Board of Realtors’ latest data. In the larger market areas of Summit and Wasatch counties, the median price of a single-family home is $1.79 million, while condos go for $1.12 million. 

But on the western edge of Summit County, in the small city of Francis — about a 25 minute drive to Park City or Heber — a Utah home builder is trying to help provide more relatively affordable options for working-class people wanting to live in the mountains. And the company says it’s prioritizing selling and renting to “essential workers” including teachers, first-responders, and local small business employees. 

“Essential workers shouldn’t have to choose between an hour-plus commute and living in the community they serve,” said Clark Ivory, CEO of Utah’s largest home building company, Ivory Homes.

Ivory Innovations — the nonprofit arm of Ivory Homes and an academic center based at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business that’s focused on solutions for affordable housing — held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday for the development, named Innovation Park at Francis Commons. 

Ivory called it the “first step to ensuring that the teachers educating our children, first responders protecting our families and health care workers caring for our community can afford to live where they work.”

“This development proves we can create high-quality affordable housing, even in Utah’s most expensive markets,” he said. 

The Francis Commons project includes 64 townhomes and 30 single-family homes for sale, though all 30 of the single-family homes have already sold. The townhomes are priced below $470,000, while the single-family homes were priced in the low $600,000 range.

Sixteen townhomes have also been set aside as rentals that are income-restricted for individuals making a salary of up to roughly $70,000 or families of three making up to about $90,000, Ivory said. 

Rent for a two-bedroom unit for someone making 60% of the area median income would be about $1,990 a month, according to the development’s website. For someone making 80% of the area median income, rent would be about $2,241. 

That may not seem affordable to many. But the average income of Utah’s median household is about $98,000, according to a report published in April by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. After adjusting for cost-of-living differences between states, the report said that puts Utah’s median household income highest in the country, and nearly 27% higher than the U.S. average of $77,719. 

And those prices are still hundreds of thousands of dollars lower than Summit County and Wasatch County’s median home prices. 

For the owner-occupied homes, Ivory said he’s only selling to people who are living there full time.

“If they’re buying a single-family home or a townhome, they need to commit to us that they’re going to be a primary resident. We’re not selling to investors. We’re not selling to those who want a second home up here in Summit County,” Ivory said. “We’re selling to those that are working here and making it happen in the community.”

The development was created through a partnership with Ivory Homes, the Call to Action Foundation and Francis city leaders as part of Ivory Homes’ larger Francis Commons subdivision master plan.  

The partnership has committed to build 1,500 affordable homes across Utah — in support of Gov. Spencer Cox’s goal to build 35,000 starter homes in the state by 2028. The governor has set housing affordability as a top priority for his administration, as the state has faced skyrocketing housing prices, especially over the last five years, while also grappling with a housing shortage that experts have estimated at more than 37,000 units and counting. 

But there’s still a long way to go toward fulfilling Cox’s goal. 

So far 5,801 starter homes have been built — most of which (2,814) are concentrated in Utah County — according to the state’s housing dashboard. 

Cox, in a post on X earlier this month, acknowledged “we know there’s more to do.” He encouraged Utahns to “track our progress” toward the goal on that dashboard. 

Francis Mayor Jeremie Forman said affordable housing has been a “big challenge,” but he applauded the development with Ivory Homes as a “really big deal.”

“The ability to have full-time residents here in Francis that are able to afford to live here, to work here, raise their families here, that builds a sense of community that a second-home community does not build,” he said. “So we’re super excited to have this product here. Hopefully others will follow suit.” 

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