Fewer Boise-area houses sell above list price now. Good news for buyers? Look closer
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Affording Boise: Rental housing
Soaring rents. Skyrocketing home prices. The double-digit rates of increase in the costs of Boise-area housing create increasingly urgent problems for low-income, working-class and even moderate-income Idahoans who need places to live. Affording Boise is a series of Idaho Statesman special reports on housing. This collection focuses on rental homes, including apartments. A separate collection focuses on homeownership.
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Home prices are starting to line up with the reality of the market. But they’re not getting any more affordable.
Ada County set a median price record in February even though homes aren’t selling above list price as often.
The median price of a single-family home in Ada County in February was $549,900, according to the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. That tops the previous record of $546,000 set in December. It’s also a 21.6% increase from a year ago, when the median price in February 2021 was $452,300.
The median price of a home in Canyon County in February was $434,450, also a record. It represents a nearly $10,000 increase from January’s $424,900.
In Ada County, existing homes sold for 99.6% of the list price on average, according to the Boise Regional Realtors. That means list prices are catching up with the spike in sales prices. Last year, buyers paid an average of 105.5% of the list price, the Realtors said.
The percentage of homes sold over list price peaked at 75.9% in March 2021.
Boise real estate agent Kerri O’Hara, with Better Homes and Gardens 43 Degrees North Real Estate, said she doesn’t expect the market to slow down, because supply is still far from catching up to demand, and prices tend to tick up in the spring.
“Time is of the essence. I don’t think you can continue to wait, because when one house sells … it becomes the next comparable sale for a similar house in the area,” O’Hara said by phone. “You can see how quickly it can increase.”
She explained that a home listed at $550,000 could be sold over list price for $560,000. The next home nearby might be listed at $560,000. If that too gets bid on and sells for $10,000 more than list price, the benchmark for a comparable house suddenly becomes $20,000 more than the original list price of the first home.
There’s six-tenths of a month of housing inventory in Ada County, according to O’Hara. That means if no more homes came on the market, the available homes would be sold within about 18 days. That reflects a strong seller’s market. A balanced market has between four and six months of inventory available.
The 418 existing homes sold in Ada County in February spent an average of 23 days on the market. That’s a decrease from 33 days in January, and a sign of houses becoming more competitive as spring arrives.
O’Hara said competition might be even greater in certain areas within the county.
“I was in a situation with a buyer last week, there were 14 offers on the home,” O’Hara said. “It went significantly over, at least $55,000 over the list price. That … area in East Boise has very few options and a lot of buyers. I think we will see that continue.”
This trend continues to place Boise-area housing ever more out of the reach of ordinary local workers who have only their incomes to pay for a mortgage.
O’Hara worries about the next generation: people who grow up here but can’t afford to buy a home here when they’re older. She said that’s sad and unfortunate.
“Affordability is an issue. I think that’s not going to change anytime soon,” O’Hara said. “And I’m not sure what actually could even be done to help that.”
Even with more new homes being built, a balanced market is still a long way off. In February, new-construction homes in Ada County sold for a median price of $587,551.
The higher prices still haven’t scared off newcomers, though. O’Hara said her buyers often are moving to Idaho for quality-of-life or political reasons, even if it’s a lateral move financially.
A lack of supply drove increasing prices in the Treasure Valley in the 2010s. But the prices have accelerated even more in the past two years.
“In July of 2020, I think a lot of us Realtors would feel that it was like the water just turned on,” O’Hara said. “… The supply and demand issue we’re talking about now was nothing that we had ever seen.”
Other details from the latest monthly listing-service report:
- The average days on the market for any Ada County home for sale dropped from 37 in January to 32 in February. In Canyon County it remained at 42.
- Highest median prices: Eagle, $957,500; Northeast Boise, $970,000; North Boise, $805,500.
- Lowest median prices: Wilder, $165,000; Southwest Caldwell, $379,990; Northwest Caldwell, $389,900.
This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
