The number of residential land sales in the first five months was nearly the same as it was for the first five months of 2015. The highest was in 2005 with 502 sales and dropped to a low of 35 for the first five months of 2009. Since that 2009 low, the number of sales increased to 207 for the same period of 2013 and has seen a slight drop each year since then.
The number of new residential land listings is 30 percent lower than it was in the first five months of 2015. At this time in 2015 there were 1,350 residential land listings, compared to 1,135 that are currently on the market in Flathead County.
The median price in the first five months was $70,000, compared to $72,000 in the first five months of 2015 and $80,000 for all of 2015. The median tract size for the first five months was 1.4 acres compared to 1.02 acres in 2015. The average size was 7.3 acres this year compared to 6.3 acres in the first five months of 2015. The overall median tract size was 1.3 acres in 2015 and average tract size was 8 acres.
Land sales continue to be relatively flat in both the number of sales and prices, however inventories are decreasing.
In 1981, Jim started Kelley Appraisal in Kalispell and has since built an extensive database of economic and real estate-related data on northwestern Montana. Over the last several years, he has published annual reports on the Flathead Real Estate Market and been a guest speaker on numerous occasions for various groups in the Flathead.