Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 9.24.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM
BUSINESS MONTHLY
SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 | 33
REAL ESTATE
Continued from page 31
Now, three-quarters of the way through 2014 and five years removed from the recession, real estate profes- sionals believe consumer confidence is improving as the economy continues to strengthen and job numbers improve.
“I don’t think people have the con- fidence they had back then (in the mid- 2000s), but I think the confidence is re- turning,” Kelley said. “I think people are cautiously optimistic.”
As of August, the median house price in Flathead County was $223,000, and the average price was just over $271,500.
In Kalispell, the growing confidence is manifest in the tight in-town mar- ket, according to Rob Keller, the pres- ident-elect of the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors and a broker at Montana Brokers.
Having six months of inventory is considered a “solid market” in real es- tate, Keller said, and the residential mar- ket in Kalispell has been turning over quicker than that.
“It’s a very, very good market in Ka- lispell,” he said.
About anything priced under $250,000 has been selling, and August was particularly active, with 20 percent more residential overall sales in the coun- ty compared to August 2013.
But there are still areas of the real
estate market that need to see increases
Keller said. While he believes the resi- dential market for working class people has hit the bottom and is now recovering, certain submarkets continue to languish.
Vacant lots with five or more acres, the commercial market, and properties on Flathead Lake still have a glut of in- ventory, he said, and those prices will likely continue to decline.
Keller also sees an optimistic outlook from sellers when it comes to pricing, which isn’t jiving with the pessimistic views from buyers.
people that are cautious out there just because they got so burned in the down- turn,” he said.
A real estate agent can help bridge the divide, he said, though some sellers have had to come down on price to be able to sell their properties.
Ross Pickert, president of Glacier So- theby’s International Realty in Whitefish and current president of NMAR, said he’s seen a similar attitude from buyers on high-end properties as well.
While properties at $400,000 and un-
have had to bring down their prices to match buyers’ expectations, he said.
The market is constantly changing, Pickert said, and there is still an abun- dance of listings in certain submarkets that need to sell before there can be a complete stabilization of the market.
There has also been a reduction of buyers, he said, because in the mid- 2000s, people were getting qualified for much larger loans.
“They took away a supply of buyers, and that was people who weren’t qualified to buy in the first place,” he said.
However, Pickert believes there is more optimism in the overall market than there was five years ago.
“The confidence level is definitely increased since five years ago,” he said. “And the market has increased in every sector since 2009.”
With three months to go in 2014, overall residential sales look to be a little lower than 2013’s total of 1,539, but the price points could end up higher than last year, Kelley said.
There has also been a healthy amount of residential construction, Keller said, and those numbers don’t al- ways make it into the overall sale num- bers. And as employment in the county strengthens, more people will likely make the leap from renting to owning, he said, which is a key driving factor for real estate.
“Things are looking bet- ter,” Keller said.
Andy Hurst, with Hurst and Cross Construction, installs cabinets in a home along Leisure Drive. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
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