BOISE, Idaho — For the first time since October 2014, the median sales price for homes in Ada County has dropped year-over-year.
The median price during the month of November 2022 was $525,000, down 2.5% compared to November of 2021, according to data from Intermountain MLS. That price is also 6.5% less than the median for October of this year. Median indicates the point at which half the homes in the county sold for less and half sold for more.
When the string of year-over-year increases that ended last month began back in 2014, the median sales price in Ada County was a little less than $209,000, less than half what it is now. Still, the latest dip is a clear indicator that what’s been a white-hot real estate market continues to cool.
Boise Regional REALTORS president Becky Enrico Crum said in a news release Friday that rising mortgage rates and the swift price appreciation over the past several years have decreased purchasing power for prospective homebuyers and reduced demand.
The number of homes sold in November in Ada County, 548, was 39% lower than a year ago. Of those, 380 were existing/resale homes and 168 were new construction. The decrease in sales of existing homes (44.9%) was sharper than the decrease in sales of new construction (19.2%).
"To attract the buyers who remain in the market, sellers are adjusting prices accordingly or offering buyer incentives like closing cost credits to buy down the interest rate," Enrico Crum said. "Lenders are also adapting and offering new programs to help buyers combat higher interest rates."
Enrico Crum also said those who are able to buy in today's market have more options to choose from and more time to shop for a home than they would have a year or even six months ago. There were 1,843 homes available for purchase in Ada County in November, 131.5% more than in November 2021. Homes that closed in November spent an average of 47 days on the market before going under contract, compared to 29 days this time a year ago.
There’s also some hope that the cost of borrowing for a home will decline or at least stabilize in 2023.
Boise Regional REALTORS notes that mortgage interest rates have dropped to an average of 6.33% as of Thursday, Dec. 8 – down from the most recent high average of 7.08% four weeks earlier, on Nov. 10, according to Freddie Mac.
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