As the weather has started to cool, so has the Boise real estate market. Our median sales price was $530,500 last month—down about $10,000 from July but still up 32.2% from the same month last year. The main reason for high appreciation over the last year is primarily a matter of supply versus demand. The Boise area simply hasn’t had enough housing inventory to keep up with the number of buyers looking to purchase. Fortunately, though, housing supply is on the rise. Last month was the fifth consecutive month of inventory growth, increasing 6.5% from July and a whopping 90.8% from August 2020!!
As stated by Boise Regional REALTORS® (BRR), these inventory gains are “very encouraging—and likely prompted by higher prices—although still low compared to what they might have been had they tracked with the historical trendline.” (See the historical trendline for Ada County HERE).
The number of pending and closed sales remain on track with their respective trendlines, although they decreased 22.9% and 28.3% respectively from last year (see graph HERE). As BRR reports, “Some in the national news have speculated that declines in national sales activity indicates buyers are backing off. This may be the case in some situations, especially among more price sensitive buyers, but the declines likely have more to do with seasonality and limited inventory…The past two years haven’t had that same seasonal feel with the pandemic compressing the traditional market cycles, but any additional declines in activity from now through the end of the year are not completely atypical.”
The increase in the number of homes available and the slight cooling of the market are good news for buyers, but they aren’t completely out of the woods yet. Inventory remains near historic lows compared to demand, meaning the market is still very competitive. Although the number of homes receiving multiple offers and selling for over asking price has declined, 42.3% of properties still sold for an average of $22,675 more than list price last month.
If you’re considering buying or selling, we’d love to talk with you more about the typical and atypical factors of today’s market and how we can leverage those to help you meet your real estate objectives. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for a coffee date or phone call, anytime!
