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A housing development in Kalispell. BEACON FILE PHOTO
Real Estate Market Holds Steady
Mid-year report shows increases in median home prices around the valley
BY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
As 2015 reaches its midway point, a recent real estate report indicates that initial prognostications about a steady, if not historic, year for the market are hold- ing up.
According to the mid-year report from Jim Kelley of Kelley Appraisals, who has kept track of real estate trends in the Flathead Valley for decades, overall res- idential sales in Flathead County so far this year are up 15.2 percent from the same time in 2014, at 743 compared to the previous year’s 645.
Earlier in the year, Kelley predicted
that the Flathead market could approach historic levels, given the amount of sales that had happened in the first quarter. Now at the halfway point of the year, the sales seemed to have cooled off a bit, but the market remains strong.
“Right now, based on what I’m seeing, it’s backing off a little bit from hitting the record volume,” Kelley said. “But it’s coming close.”
So far this year, the overall sales in Flathead County equal about half of the total sales from 2014. One major distinc- tion between the first six months of 2015 and the first six months of 2014 is the median sale price.
From January to June 2014, the median price for residential sales was $213,900. In that same time frame this year, the median house price is $235,500. This shows that house values are perhaps ticking up, Kelley said, or that brokers are selling more of the top-tier, expensive properties that have been languishing in an overstocked inventory left over from the recession.
The number of bank-owned sales is another indicator of a strengthening economy, and so far in 2015, there have been 69 such transactions, compared to 78 in the same time frame in 2014.
Short sales decreased from 20 in the
first six months of 2014 to seven this year, with non-distress sales making up nearly 90 percent of 2015’s overall sales. As of July, there were 1,615 residences listed for sale, with 97 percent of those listings cited as non-distressed.
According to Kelley’s report, there have been 351 sales in Kalispell, includ- ing a 3.5-mile ring around the city limits. This is on pace with 2014’s total 715 sales, though the average price for a home in Kalispell has climbed to $240,467 com- pared to 2014’s $216,753.
Whitefish continues to be one of the most expensive places in the valley to buy a house, with the average price coming in
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JULY 22, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM