BOISE, Idaho — According to the Intermountain MLS, in Ada County, there was a 44.5% increase in home sales last month compared to a year ago. That's all with no increase in median price. In Canyon County, there was a 39% spike in home sales year-over-year for October. There, the median price went up a little, but not much, at 3.5%. All this while mortgage rates are creeping back up though.
So, what happened? We talked to Elizabeth Hume, President of Boise Regional REALTORs, who said interest rates dropping a little played a factor, though again they're back up, along with the stability of knowing who was running for President. Also, inventory, the number of homes available, is going up. Year over year, the number of active listings went up by 12% in Ada County and 24% in Canyon County.
"It's still not up where it needs to be, however it's been up and it's been climbing,” said Hume. “So, it offers more choices for people and maybe a little less pressure. People see that they can have that room to negotiate. I think that helps if you're going to pay extra interest rates, because interest rates are still high, higher than what they saw in 2020. Then, at least they have some power of negotiation, so they're able to get closing costs paid for, maybe, or they're able to have the price come down a little bit, have some of those repairs made."
So, what does this mean for the market in the months ahead? We asked Hume if she can tell the future by reading the tea leaves on that, and she joked, "I don't read tea leaves very well. I drink tea, but I don't read the tea leaves very well."
Something that would help that market going forward is if builders could keep churning out homes and that supply goes up to offset demand. We'll talk more about that, next week on Growing Idaho.