Recent years have seen home prices in Utah skyrocket to levels well above the nation's average, with the housing supply failing to match the demand.
"Unless Utah significantly increases its housing supply, we expect high housing costs to continue for the foreseeable future, presenting a significant challenge to Utah's economic competitiveness and rising generation," the report states.
Additionally, only six states in the U.S. — Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon and Colorado — have higher median single-family home prices than Utah, according to the report.
Dean said that he sees housing affordability as one of, if not the greatest, economic risk to the state.
"It makes it harder for employers to be able to attract people here in the state (and) it makes it harder for us to be able to keep our existing workforce," Dean said. "I think we risk hollowing out the middle class when we don't have that (affordable housing) available to a wide swath of people in the state. I'm very concerned about it and ultimately, it is a matter of supply. We need to increase the supply of housing in the state."