The Flathead’s Frozen Real Estate Market Begins to Thaw
A rise in inventory is bringing some more flexibility to the housing market, but pricey homes and high mortgage rates continue to pose barriers for many buyers
By Maggie Dresser
As the nationwide housing market remains frozen, experts in the Flathead Valley say that northwest Montana is starting to thaw as inventory expands and prospective homebuyers grow tired of waiting for high mortgage rates to drop.
In a market where high home prices persist and mortgage rates hover around 6.8%, there is still little movement in Kalispell where the median sales price was $562,500 in May 2025, a value that has not significantly changed since last year.
However, Wendy Brown of PureWest Real Estate in Kalispell says despite the flat numbers, she’s noticing activity pick up as new builds come online and the region remains desirable.
“We are thawing,” Brown said. “People think things are frozen and they drag their feet, but if you don’t buy it, someone else will.”
While some sellers are buying interest rates down and offering to cover closing costs for a handful of homes, Brown is also noticing reasonably priced houses seeing multiple offers and few days on the market. The average days on market this spring has dropped in most areas compared to last year.
In Kalispell, the average days on the market rose to 117 this May compared to 103 days the year before while Columbia Falls dropped to 84 days compared to 111 days in May of 2024. In Whitefish, the days on market dropped to 83 days on market compared to 198 last May, according to Montana Regional MLS data.
Brown says Flathead County’s price range between $240,000 and $400,000 is seeing the highest volume of closed sales while homes under $299,000 is seeing the fewest.
“We are seeing price reductions for properties that were aggressive about their asking price at the beginning,” Brown said. “If people are pricing them appropriately, they aren’t sitting long but we are seeing price drops when they are too high.”
Last month, U.S. home prices nationwide rose 0.7% compared to May 2024 while the number of homes sold was down 4.9%, according to Redfin.
In Flathead County, closed sales rose to 156 last month compared to 140 in May of 2024, according to MLS.
Compared to the “super-heated” housing market prompted by the pandemic in 2021, Northwest Montana Association of Realtors (NMAR) spokesperson Erica Wirtala says practices like open houses and price negotiations have returned. Home prices, however, remain high.
In Flathead County, the median sales price was $630,000 in May of this year, down only slightly from its peak of $690,000 in June of 2022.
The combination of expensive home prices and high mortgage rates has kept some buyers at bay compared to the pandemic-era boom.
“People have houses for sale, but there’s just not as many buyers,” Wirtala said. “It’s more of a buyer’s market.”
New home construction has also helped add to the inventory, with a 20% nationwide increase last month compared to May 2024.
The City of Kalispell in recent years has approved numerous developments that are starting to come online, which Wirtala says will add to the Flathead’s inventory.
“There’s still a bit of inventory coming on in the next year or two, which might play into the market and bring down some prices,” Wirtala said.
While a slew of multifamily developments like the Parkline Towers and the Silos apartment complex have brought hundreds of new units to the Flathead, more single-family developments are slated to come online over the next few years.
For example, the city council approved the controversial Tronstad Meadows development last year, which will bring 355 single-family homes to north Kalispell. Despite the additional housing inventory it will add, the proposal received widespread opposition from neighbors who said the project’s density was too high.
Homes at Eagle Valley Ranch are also coming online following years of planning, which is part of 113 single-family homes in a mixed-used development. The roughly 2,000 square-foot houses are listed for about $500,000 with interest rate incentives.
Development on the Kalispell North Town Center near West Reserve Drive is also evolving into the city’s “newest community” with several hundred square feet of commercial real estate in the works.
But even as inventory slowly grows, high costs continue to keep some prospective homebuyers out of the market. But Brown says despite this barrier – life goes on.
“The biggest driver in real estate is life,” Brown said. “Divorce, death, marriage, babies – all those kinds of things.”