MERIDIAN, Idaho — The median sales price for homes in Ada County in August was $565,000, according to Boise Regional Realtors. That’s down 4% from July and another sign of a cooling housing market, but still 6% higher compared to this time last year.
“The pandemic fundamentally changed where people want to live, remote work changed where people want to live, and markets that had never experienced the problems of California before were having their own problems, like multiple offers on a home driving up prices, and people being priced out, especially locals,” said Daryl Fairweather, the Chief Economist at Redfin.
She says those changes that we saw at the start of the pandemic are changing again.
“It's taken a 180 degree from where it was during the pandemic, about 70% of homes in Boise have experienced a price cut and that is largely because sellers are having to wake up to the reality that buyers can't afford as much with these higher mortgage rates, and also there isn't this pandemic push of people looking to escape to a rural city like Boise,” Fairweather said.
RELATED: Report: Idahoans earning minimum wage must work 104 hours each week to afford two-bedroom rental
She adds, the housing market is slowing down in general, but sellers in Boise got over eager with how they were pricing their home which means many homes are now sitting on the market longer.
Jeffree Nice is all too familiar with what that means. He put his home on the market last month.
”I think it's been a little over 30 days, which is somewhat normal in these times. I guess I just missed the window,” Nice said.
While Nice loves the Treasure Valley, he's trying to sell his home so he can move to Texas to be with his kids and grandkids. So far, he's had three open houses.
“Everybody loves the house but haven't had an offer yet and it's a little bit frustrating. I guess I'm kind of surprised because it's really a nice, nice house, you know. Especially a nice entry level home, but it's not going quite the way I’d hoped,” Nice said.
His listing comes as Redfin found that more than 61% of Boise sellers have lowered their asking price, Denver followed with 55% of sellers lowering their asking price and 51% in Salt Lake City.
“I listed it originally for $430,000 which was well within the you know, the comparable home rate at the time,” Nice said. “I did lower it about two weeks ago to $415,000.
He told KTVB, he might have to lower it again.
“It's not like the sky is falling, they can still sell their home and probably get a lot more for it than they could have before the pandemic, but they're not going to be able to get as much, are not going to get as many offers as they would have earlier in the year” Fairweather said.
As for potential buyers, she told KTVB, they can probably get a deal on a home.
“If it's within your price range, and you can afford it, you might be able to get it for a little bit less than asking price, maybe a couple $1,000 less, it means that you're probably not going to face any competition, so you can put whatever contingencies you want on your offer,” Fairweather said.
For perspective, we reached out to the Boise Regional Realtors to get a snapshot of what the housing inventory looks like now, compared to this time last year. Boise Regional Realtors could not weigh in on the quality of homes but sent us this data from the MLS. In 2021, there were 55 homes between the price point of $300,000- $399,999. Now, there are 150 homes. For homes listed between $400,000-$499,999. There were 255 homes and now there are 584 homes.
Nice’s home falls in that price range.
“It's kind of kind of stressful a little bit” Nice said.
Watch more 'Growing Idaho':
See the latest growth and development news in our YouTube playlist: