ADA COUNTY, Idaho — In May of 2022, KTVB looked into the amount of luxury homes being sold in Ada County and why nearly half of those homes were being sold in Eagle. Fast forward to 2023 and the numbers just keep climbing.
Attractive views, upscale locations and swimming pools with a hot tub, these are just some of the features that entice home buyers to luxury homes. Brent Hughes, owner of Boise Premier Real Estate, has been tracking the data.
"I think the most interesting thing about the data is that even in 2023, where rates are significantly higher than they've been, we're still going to have one of our most record years for luxury home sells," Hughes said. "We'll probably get to about 850 homes that have sold in Ada County over a million dollars; including townhouses, condos and single family, which I think people are shocked to hear about, because that's second only to last year."
Last year, from January to December, 948 homes sold for more than a million dollars in Ada County.
"It's a huge number, especially considering that Boise for 10/ 20 years would maybe sell 12 of them per year," Hughes said.
He believes people are still relocating and moving to Idaho.
"Each year, the average is actually gotten higher. So, even this year, where we're going to be 100 homes off of our absolute high, the average price is still $1.5 million of luxury. So, they're getting up there, and you're starting to see homes hit the market at $3 million to 4 million, which we have never seen before," Hughes said.
He said those homes are still predominantly sold in Eagle and they do not stay on the market for long.
"It used to be when you sold a million-dollar home, it had been there for a long time, like it was like 90 days, I think even the stats say 150 days on the market," Hughes said. "
However, that number was prior to the pandemic where there was a huge influx of people moving to the state.
In 2020 luxury homes stayed on the market for an average of 43 days. In 2021 and 2022, luxury homes stayed on the market for even less time and that number was cut in half to around 20 days.
"Now we're at 51 days, which is still really, really fast considering that the traditional market of everything is about 35 days on the market," Hughes said. "It's never been like this. This is new."
He added the demand for luxury homes is still growing. In fact, just this year a home in Star belonging to former NFL player Mike Iupati sold for nearly $7 million, making it the most expensive home to sell in the Treasure Valley. Hughes said it is a gorgeous home that sits on 17 acres.
Hughes said the current market is complicated because even though payments are high and pricing is stable, there is still not a lot of inventory.
"So just a short while ago, we said inventory was not going to be fulfilled by builders, and you're not going to see a lot of people actually want to sell their house, because they're locked into a rate that they like, and a payment that they like, that still holds ... if we had any adjustments one way or the other, it's gonna be very, very minor. I just feel like we're gonna be in this low inventory status for quite some time," Hughes said.
He said he does not see the market crashing because of the low inventory and the data suggests this is the new Idaho.
"I think Boise is changing, the Treasure Valley is changing. I think this is the this is the trajectory we're on," Hughes said. "Especially with this many people still wanting to move here."
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