Boise area real estate and rental management blog
In a recent article, John Sowell with the Idaho Statesman, describes record home sames in Boise. A copy of the full article is below.
During the recession, investors bought up distressed single-family homes and turned them into rentals. Now, with fewer foreclosures and a stronger housing market, they're building their own subdivisions full of single-family rentals. BY DAVID CARACCIO | DARIN OSWALD | NATHANIEL LEVINE
A line formed last Saturday outside a newly listed home for sale in the Alpine Pointe subdivision near Eagle and McMillan roads in Meridian.
“It was by appointment only, and they had people lined up in the streets and in their cars all day,” said real estate agent Laura Trairatnobhas of John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise, who was not involved in the sale but lives in the neighborhood. “I was told by a neighbor that the house went under contract with four full-cash offers the same day.”
The asking price: $540,000.
High demand and low inventory continue to fuel a sales frenzy in Ada County, where home price records fall nearly every month.
On Friday, the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service reported yet another record for median prices in Ada County: $400,000. The median has increased $25,000 in the past two months
Canyon County’s median price of $309,900 also set a record, for the seventh month in a row. Canyon’s median has risen nearly $45,000 since February.
“Price alone isn’t stopping people from coming in and buying homes as soon as they can,” Trairatnobhas said by phone. “The market is such that if you are truly serious about buying, you must be fully prepared. You’ve got to get your proof of funds or your loan straightened out. Otherwise, someone else is going to have it under contract before you can get your act together.”
A total of 1,251 new and existing single-family homes were sold in Ada County in August, up 199 from August 2019. The number was down, however, from the 1,402 sold in July.
Fueled by strong sales in July and August, home sales for the year are up 2.5% over 2019. The market rebounded from the second quarter, when the coronavirus pandemic drove sales down 15% from a year ago.
Trairatnobhas predicts the catastrophic forest fires raging in Oregon, California and Washington could be another selling point for people looking to move from those states.
“I think these terrible fires along the West Coast are going to drive even more people to Idaho,” she said.
Sales of both new homes and existing ones were up in August. There were 411 new homes sold, up 29% from a year ago. Through August, new home sales are up 9% over last year.
For existing homes, 840 were sold in August, up from 734 in 2019. For the year, sales are down 0.7%.
The housing-supply shortage set a record, too: 589 homes were on the market in August, the lowest ever recorded. That compares with 1,657 a year ago. That’s a 64% drop. Of those, 350 were new homes and 239 were existing homes.
Travis Hunter, co-owner of Boise Hunter Homes, said it’s impossible for home builders to keep up.
“There’s only so many subcontractors in the valley, so you can only produce so many homes,” he said by phone. “We’re going to probably build about 200 homes this year.”
MORTGAGE RATES HIT ANOTHER RECORD LOW
While buyers suffer from high prices, they benefit from low mortgage rates. Those, too, are setting records, and not just locally.
On Thursday, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 2.86%, the lowest in a half century. A year ago, the mortgage rate averaged 3.56%.
The mortgage rate dropped below 3% in July for the first time since Freddie Mac began reporting the data in 1971.
Other details from the latest monthly listing-service report:
Existing homes: The median price for the 840 Ada County homes sold was $385,500. In Canyon County, where 389 were sold, the median price was $282,000.
New homes: The median price for the 411 new homes sold in Ada County was $444,900. In Canyon County, the median for 253 new homes was $331,490.
Highest median prices: Eagle, $630,000; Northeast Boise, $590,000; North Boise, $569,900.
Lowest median prices: Northwest Caldwell, $296,745; Northwest Nampa, $285,309; Southwest Caldwell, $276,000.
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