As the real estate market ramps up for the busy season in northwest Montana, many prospective homebuyers and sellers are wondering what the latter half of 2025 will bring in a dynamic landscape of economic uncertainty.

Home sales nationwide have slowed down – despite a rise in inventory – as prices remain high while the Wall Street Journal reports home sellers outnumber buyers by nearly 500,000.

Local real estate experts say the Flathead Valley usually lags behind nationwide trends, but the area’s desirability with Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake in everyone’s backyard means the region often stands as an outlier and maintains a steady demand compared to other areas.

Wendy Brown of Chuck Olson Real Estate in Kalispell said that while the market has stayed somewhat frozen in recent years, many of her clients have lost patience and are no longer waiting for mortgage rates to drop, which are still hovering around 6.5%. As Federal Reserve officials show no signs of budging anytime soon, the messaging has contributed to some “thawing” of the market as homebuyers quit waiting and move on with their lives.

“The biggest driver in real estate is life,” Brown said. “Divorce, death, marriage, babies – all of those things.”

Still, real estate numbers this spring haven’t fluctuated much from last year as high prices persist.

Here’s a comparison from May in 2024 and 2025, according to MLS data.

Median sales price; average days on market

Kalispell

2024 – $562,950; 103

2025 – $562,500; 119

Whitefish

2024 – $1,050,000; 198

2025 – $1,147,500; 83

Columbia Falls

2024 – $525,000, 111

2025 – $583,500, 84

Looking ahead to 2026, homeowners will see a major shift in property taxes after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law a major relief package following the 2025 Legislature.

As part of the second-home tax bill, owner-occupied homes will see a tax reduction by roughly 18% over two years while taxes will rise more than 60% on many second homes that include residences that are occupied less than seven months of the year.

“It’s doing a lot of good for a lot of people,” said Erica Wirtala of the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors (NMAR), referring to the relief for owner-occupied residences.

Homes on agricultural land and long-term rentals are exempt from the raise, but second homes and short-term rentals will see a massive tax increase. Experts say the hike could shift both the vacation rental market as prices are passed on to consumers while many second homeowners may decide to sell their homes.

Even as most Flathead Valley residents likely lack sympathy for out-of-state second homeowners who suddenly are forced to offset property taxes for full-time residents, inherited structures like longtime family cabins will also fall under this category, which was probably an unintended consequence of the tax relief package.

“The bad thing is, there are a lot of Montanans who have inherited family cabins and they’re going to just get hammered,” Wirtala said.

I’m Maggie Dresser, here with today’s Daily Roundup.

In her latest column, Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger Julie Laing shares her recipe for strawberry clafouti (pudding cake). Check it out here.