Page 36 - Flathead Beacon // 6.29.16

BUSINESS MONTHLY
Real Estate Market Riding Ups, Downs in 2016
Houses of all prices selling well, but the market is tightest for homes in $175,000-to-$325,000 range
BY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
Summer is a popular time for real estate sales in the Flathead Valley, with the warm season showing o the best the region has to o er as well as allowing for an easier time moving a household.
But for those families or individuals seeking low- to mid-priced housing in the valley, this summer will likely prove frustrating unless the market adds more inventory.
Homes priced within the $175,000- to-$325,000 range are rare, and are typi- cally snatched up from the market within several days, according to realtors in the Flathead.
“We’re nding that the inventory is really low in the $200,000 to $300,000 range,” Kim Barstow, a realtor with Flat- head Valley Brokers, said. “We’re trying to get people on the fence about selling their homes to market them.”
It’s been an erratic year so far for the real estate market as a whole, with large di erences, both positive and negative, when each month is compared to the same time last year.
According to Jim Kelley, owner and senior appraiser at Kelley Appraisal, “it’s really kind of an up-and-down year.”
This year, January had an 18 percent increase in residential sales when com- pared to January 2015. February was almost another 18 percent increase, but was then followed with a 9 percent decrease in March.
April brought a signi cant change, recording 21 percent more sales than in 2015, but then May was down 8 percent compared to last year.
Despite being the beginning of the summer season, June also looks like it will be down signi cantly when com- pared to 2015, Kelley said. Three weeks into the month this year, there were 98 sales, compared to a total of 195 in 2015.
New home construction along Leisure Drive. BEACON FILE PHOTO “It’s looking to be down 30 or 40 per-
cent in June, but that’s not certain yet,” Kelley said last week.
In previous years, as the valley con- tinued to pull itself out of the recession, there would be a glut of housing inventory
available in certain price ranges, such as the high-end properties. But that’s quickly dwindling, Barstow said.
“It is crazy. People are coming from all over. We’re getting inquiries from all over the United States,” she said. “People are actively selling and buying right now.”
Interest rates remain near their his- toric low levels. The recent decision from Britain to exit the European Union sent global markets into decline with world stocks losing more than $2 trillion, and will likely keep the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates much, according to reports from Reuters.
The Fed had intended on two rate increases this year, but economic fac- tors such as oil prices stopped any rate hikes. Interest rates for a 30-year xed- rate mortgage have remained at around 3.7 percent, the lowest they have been in almost three years.
Barstow said the bulk of her out- of-state clients are searching in the $450,000-to-$750,000 range.
She said the most frustrating aspect about the market right now is the num- ber of families trying to get into mid-level priced homes and how little inventory there is.
“That’s what’s discouraging,” Bar- stow said. “There are a lot of good people spending a lot of money on rent and want to get into a house and the inventory for that is just bad.”
The rental market is also tight with little availability, especially for families, and land values remain relatively high, Kelley noted.
It’s a buyer’s and a seller’s market right now, Barstow said, and realtors are encouraging anyone who has considered selling or homeownership to look into it.
“People think they can’t a ord it, that it’s not the right time,” Barstow said. “This really is the right time.”
mpriddy@ atheadbeacon.com
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JUNE 29, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM