Idaho’s relentless growth is pushing the cost of construction higher than ever — and local agencies are now adjusting to keep up.
The Ada County Highway District (ACHD) is proposing a significant increase to its impact fees, which are paid by developers to support infrastructure needs such as wider roads, new traffic systems, and utility expansions. The reason behind the increase is simple: everything required to build has become more expensive.
"The impact fee is increasing because of the changes that we've seen to the construction costs and right of way costs. So that's the property that we need to purchase to be able to expand roads,” explained ACHD Impact Fee Administrator Megan Anderson. “We've seen significant increases in those areas with inflation in recent years, and with just the overall construction cost, material costs, there have been some major changes in recent years. So that is a big driver to the fee increase that's in the current CIP proposal."
From asphalt and concrete to labor and land acquisition, nearly every component of infrastructure development has surged in price. Despite that, Idaho builders are not slowing down.
According to Redfin, the number of homes for sale statewide in August rose nearly 4% year-over-year. In Ada County, sales of newly constructed homes jumped an impressive 17.6%, according to Intermountain MLS data. Prices are rising too — up more than 4% across Idaho and roughly 0.5% for new builds in Ada County.
Even with more homes coming online, the supply still isn’t enough to cool the market. Redfin reports that Idaho currently has just over three months of housing inventory — slightly lower than last year and dramatically below the five-month supply available in January.
The takeaway? Developers are building as fast as they can, governments are scrambling to upgrade infrastructure, and buyers are still racing to keep up.
If demand continues at this pace, Idahoans should expect a familiar trend: higher fees, higher construction costs, and higher home prices.
Originally reported by Justin Corr in https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/growing-idaho/growing-
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