Boise sees 2021’s biggest home price surge in nation. Will new inventory cool market?
The Boise housing market made headlines for its record price increases last year. If would-be buyers were hopeful 2021 would be different, the newest analysis of the the first six months is sure to disappoint.
From January to June, home prices rose at a faster rate in Boise than any other metro area in the country, according to a study done by multi-lender marketplace Credible.com and brokerage company HouseCanary.
Boise median home prices jumped 12.9% between December and June. Provo-Orem, Utah, at 12.2%, came in second and Ocala, Florida, at 12.1%, came in third.
Remote work bringing people west
All but two of the top 25 cities with the fastest-growing home prices were located in Southern and Western states. The pandemic-led increase in remote work allowed more people to move outside of high-cost employment hubs, according to Chris Stroud, co-founder and chief of research at HouseCanary.
“There is a general migration pattern toward Southern, Southwestern and mountain states,” Stroud said in the report. “While these themes were present before COVID-19 hit the U.S. in spring 2020, they have significantly accelerated as the pandemic has altered the way many Americans work and live.”
New inventory levels offer hope
The influx of new residents has been the biggest cause of price surges. The supply of houses has not been able to keep up with demand, pushing prices higher and higher as the market becomes more competitive.
But July housing inventory levels finally offered some hopeful signs of a cooling market. The number of homes for sale has been steadily increasing since its January low, when only 260 were listed in Ada County and 160 in Canyon County, according to Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. There were 1,055 available Ada homes and 676 Canyon homes in July — the healthiest inventory numbers since March 2020. Ada inventory is up 50.3% from June and 116.3% from July 2020.
“While our region has faced insufficient supply compared to demand for years — the main driver of home prices — July marked five consecutive months of inventory growth,” a Boise Regional Realtors report said.
Homeowners may be trying to capitalize on this year’s record prices.
“After home prices rose above the $500,000 mark in May, homeowners may have been encouraged to list, as existing inventory was higher than the previous month and year for the second month in a row, something not seen since March of 2020 just before the pandemic hit the market,” Pete Clark, director of communications for Boise Regional Realtors, said by email.
In May, the median home price in Ada County passed the half-million mark when it jumped 8.7% in one month. June then saw a noticeable cooling when prices rose by just 0.3%. Price growth went up again last month but nothing close to May numbers. July home prices rose by 2.9% in Ada for a record-breaking median home price of $540,000.
The median was $558,000 for newly constructed Ada homes and $525,000 for existing homes.
In Canyon, home prices actually fell by 2.1% for a median of $414,750 compared with June’s $424,000, marking the county’s first decrease in more than a year.
Despite the inventory growth, houses continue to fly off the market. Ada homes spent an average 11 days for sale last month and Canyon homes spent 13. A year ago, homes in those counties were listed for 22 and 35 days, respectively.
Sally Krutzig covers Treasure Valley growth and development. Have a story suggestion or a question? Email Krutzig at skrutzig@idahostatesman.com.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
