Let’s look at single-family residence annual sales quantities, median days from listing to contract, and median cost per square foot, by square footage range (like 1,000 to 1,499), since 2017, for homes sold at prices between $150,000 and $699,999 (see chart) — focusing on sales Jan. 1 through April 25, each year.
The 2017 numbers are in green, 2018 are orange, 2019 are blue and 2020 are gold. Vertical bars show quantity of sales, dashed lines show median days from listing to contract (add roughly another 45 for due diligence to get to closing), and solid lines show median sold price per square foot.
County-wide, the price per foot shot upward this year, for the 1,500-1,999 square foot range. In the first, fourth and fifth size ranges, 2020 sales took longer than all other years; in the second, third and sixth size ranges, 2020 sales were faster than all other years. In half of the size ranges, 2020 was more expensive per foot than 2019.
Richard Dews is CEO of Glacier Flathead Real Estate, a Flathead-based real estate software and services company.