Real Estate Market Trends

After listing a single-family residence for sale, hopefully a buyer engages and negotiates an accepted offer (listing goes under contract). It often takes another 30 to 45 days to perform the due diligence, obtain inspection and appraisal and financing, and resolve any findings. How much of the original list price did they pay? Statistics show small variations by original list price range, and by the month in which the offer was accepted. Do houses garner more of their asking price when the contract is signed in the summer, or less in winter? Do less expensive homes net more of their asking price, due to competition and limited availability? (See chart.)

I ran the past year statistics (median sale price percentage of original list price, by original list price range and month of offer/contract acceptance) for Flathead County and all major Flathead cities. The printed Beacon only shows Flathead County, but a Kalispell chart is visible in the online column animated GIF (see below). Median percentages across all ranges and months by city? Notwithstanding some small monthly/range variations, Flathead County (and Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Bigfork and Lakeside) homes roughly brought 97% of their original list prices — meaning sellers and Realtors were setting prices closely to the market. Whitefish and Polson were barely behind, at 96% and 95%, respectively. I also saw taxable valuations more closely and quickly follow the market valuations, and I hope to have a column detailing the underlying tax valuation process soon.

GIF (rotating charts):

Richard Dews is CEO of Glacier Flathead Real Estate, a Flathead-based real estate software and services company.