We’re Number-One: Home Price Appreciation in Idaho

A federal study indicates home prices in Idaho rose the fastest of any state in the third quarter of 2006.

However, some Coeur d’Alene Realtors say the results are a bit misleading.

“I’ve seen the market had went up so highly a year ago, to where people that put their houses on the market priced them too high, so they had to come down to where it should have been in the first place,” said Fay Harrington, Realtor with Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, to The Post Fall Press.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices appreciated 17.5 percent in Idaho compared with the same quarter in 2005. The Utah housing market was second with a 17.4 percent increase.

According to the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service, the average price of a single-family home through October in Coeur d’Alene went up 15.5 percent over last year; in Post Falls 12.5 percent; and Rathdrum 25.2 percent.

Sales declined 34.5 percent in Coeur d’Alene through October, 30.9 percent in Post Falls and 8 percent in Rathdrum. Those results would be expected as lower-income families may be hesitant to apply for a bad credit mortgage in order to afford such prices.

While prices may have stabilized, a study commissioned by the city of Coeur d’Alene, the Lake City Development Corp. and the Idaho Housing and Finance Association determined only 6 percent of the units for sale in the county in 2006 were affordable for the city’s workforce.

For awhile, appreciation escalated prices unrealistically, exceeding $200 per square foot, Harrington said.

“Homes don’t usually sell for that much,” she said.

New homes today are selling for $150 per square foot and older homes are closer to $100 per square foot.

“We do need more properties that are the type that people are looking for,” she said. “These are homes with a little land and maybe a shop on it, three-car garages.”Century 21 Beutler and Associates Realtor John Beutler found 29 properties listed between $100,000 and $150,000 in Coeur d’Alene, nine in Post Falls and three in Hayden Lake. Typically, a buyer would get 800 to 1,100 square feet for that price, he said.

The balance between luxury living and affordable living in the state is a large reason why home loan activity remains strong. This isn’t the case across most of the country these days.