BOISE, Idaho — This spring, hope sprang that housing prices would plummet, sales would heat up, and we'd be a lot closer to affordability. Did that happen? Boise Regional Realtors President Elizabeth Hume said simply, “no.”
And she said, it's almost assuredly not going to happen.
"Yeah, Boise is very popular, and I think it's going to continue to be popular. So, prices are up, and I don't know that they're going to go down," she said.
When she said prices aren't going to go down, she means, potentially ever, at least in a significant way. Why? Just like she said, Southern Idaho is very popular and despite the growth, the quality of life remains high with a lot of jobs available. That means demand for homes is high, and should stay high, which means inventory, or the number of homes for sale, is low.
But Hume said it is getting better, “we do have more inventory. We just don't have enough."
Here's what Hume is talking about. In August of this year, there were 1,070 existing home units (not new construction) available to buy. That's up from a miniscule 239 units in 2020. But even this year is a fraction of what the inventory was back in 2006, with 2,675 units. And even then, Hume said folks were worried about not having enough inventory.
But inventory for a certain type of home is setting records: townhomes. Hume said that’s partly because they take up less space than a traditional home.
"Builders are able to put three or four units on something they would have normally put one on. When we were growing up in Idaho, you'd see a single-family house with the lawn. And now we've got all these people coming, and we have to put them someplace. So where can we get the most impact?" Hume said.
And they're more affordable for homebuyers too. While the overall median price for a home in Ada County is well over half-a-million dollars. The median price for a townhome is in the $300,000's.
"That puts it closer to a what rent might be,” said Hume. “But whenever you're buying a house, you're paying yourself rent. That's kind of how I look at those things. So, if you're able, as a first-time homebuyer, to get into a townhome that allows you to build some equity, then maybe you can make that next step."