ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Median home prices in the Treasure Valley increased again in May, with the median home price of a home in Ada County rising above $500,000 for the first time, according to data from the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service.
In Ada County, the median price for a single-family home was $523,250 last month, a year-over-year increase of about 45.4% from May 2020’s $360,000.
The median home price in Canyon County in May 2021 was $410,000, up from $277,018 in May 2020, a 48% year-over-year increase.
Compared to April 2021, median home prices in May increased about $42,000 in Ada County, and about $10,100 in Canyon County.
A variety of factors, including lack of housing inventory, continue to drive rising home prices, said Mike Pennington, a real estate agent based in Boise.
“You have little to no supply, and very high demand, so it continues pushing pricing northward,” he said. “And because there’s no resale inventory, it puts all the pressure on the builders” to add to the housing supply, he said. But that isn’t happening at a sufficient pace to meet demand for housing in the area, and there are no indications that demand for housing in the area will decrease anytime soon, he said.
Pricey building materials, such as lumber, are also pushing listing prices higher, Pennington said.
“Lumber suppliers have trouble supplying the lumber,” Pennington said, but the demand for lumber for new housing has remained the same. “That high demand and shortage of materials just keeps pushing prices higher.”
In Canyon County, 463 homes sold last month’ that’s about 15% more homes sold in the county than in May 2020. Of those sold last month, 292 were existing homes, and 171 were newly constructed homes. Compared to last year, that is about an 8% increase in the sale of existing homes, and a 29% increase in the sale of newly constructed homes.
Ada County, which has a larger population than Canyon County, and more housing, saw the sale of 790 homes in May 2021: 534 existing homes, and 256 new homes. However, that is about 6% fewer homes sold than in May 2020. Sales of existing homes decreased about 6%, while sales of newly constructed homes decreased about 4%.
The time a home spent on the market also decreased last month from the year before. Both Ada County and Canyon County homes averaged 12 days on the market before sale last month. In May 2020, homes in Ada County averaged 28 days on the market, while homes in Canyon County averaged 33 days on the market.
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