Boise Housing Market
Hey everybody, Dave Edwards from Treasure Valley Dave here in Nampa, Idaho. Today, I want to talk about what’s happening in the real estate market across the Treasure Valley in my Boise Housing Market Update.
House Prices Drop
I was looking through my emails this morning when I saw one from Dave Ramsey. He shared some excellent questions and information. He said that nationwide inventory is low, but it is growing.
Home values are still rising across the country except for four Metro areas. From December 2021 to December 2022, four Metro areas out of the 400 largest areas saw values come down. One of them was San Francisco. I can’t imagine what’s going on there. The other one was Austin, then Coeur d’Alene. Lastly, it’s the Boise area. Those last three had shot way up last year, and now they’re correcting themselves. I also know that the Boise area came down 7%, and Coeur d’Alene was about the same.
We will also talk about mortgage interest rates. For instance, you can buy your house now at a lower price, with higher interest rates. So if you wait a few years and the interest rates fall, you can refinance. But in two years and house prices fall, can you go out and re-buy your house at a low rate? No, not really.
Also, builders and some existing home sellers are offering rate buydowns. It’s not being promoted so much, but when we put in an offer, we’re asking for help with buydown and closing costs, and we’re still getting that to some degree.
Now, let’s get into Canyon County.
Canyon County and Boise Housing Market News
The top five areas sold houses in December are Nampa South, Caldwell Northwest, Nampa Northwest, Caldwell Southwest, and Middleton. The median home price in Middleton is $640,000, but there are some places where you can get your money to stretch further, like Caldwell at $385,000, Nampa at $385,000, and Caldwell Southwest at $344,000. The Canyon County average and the national average are very, very close. The national average is $379,000, which is over $344,000. So, the Treasure Valley didn’t get priced out. So if you’re looking for a better quality of life or a place to raise your family or destress, you won’t be priced out here.
Canyon County Prices
Housing prices in Canyon Country have gone up since 2006 and peaked out, and now they’re coming back down. For everyone saying, “I’m going to wait for prices to come back down” or “I’m going to wait for the crash”, the housing market crash never happened. I don’t think it is going to happen.
Inventory Is Cyclical
Inventory changes with the seasons. In the winter in Idaho, it comes down. It peaks in the summer and then comes down in the winter. And why is that? Many don’t want to move during the holidays, so they take their homes off the market. They know that springtime will be more of a demand for houses. Traditionally, when kids are ready to leave school, people want to start buying a house. That means more buyers and more demand, so that’s when sellers try to time their move.
In this case, we have builders sitting on hundreds of homes, so we have inventory. I don’t know if they’re all in the market because builders may only put out so many; they don’t want to flood the market and drive the prices down.
The interest rates are down for a long time, and then suddenly, there’s inflation. The Federal Reserve only has one tool in its toolbox: raising rates. That is what they did here. But now, interest rates are coming down again.
My first house was at a 13.5% interest rate. However, 6% is a decent rate. I remember refinancing my home and getting down to about 7%. I thought, “Wow, this is fantastic.”
Inventory-to-Sold Ratio
For every house that’s selling now, there are four in inventory. That’s still a decent amount of homes available. It’s been 8 or 9 years since we saw this ratio. So we have quite a bit of inventory, so that should keep the prices down.
Homes Sold – Days on the Market
That’s when a seller puts a house on the market before they go under contract with the buyer. We are discussing something cyclical again, as the changes are based on the seasons. Fewer houses get sold during winter, then the number spikes in the summer. So even during the pandemic, we saw a similar trend.
Since the beginning of the year, though, the numbers have started to increase. I bet they will increase quite a bit more as spring comes.
Importance of Equity
You want to get into a house and get on that equity escalator. It’s not gambling — it’s investing. Then it went through the roof in the last couple of years.
So, get into a house for the long term and build equity. You can transfer the equity to your next house if it’s not your forever house. The federal government may then have exemptions for you. I think a married couple that’s been in their house for a couple of years has a $500,000 exemption, so you won’t need to pay taxes if you make $500,000 on yours. Still, consult your accountant about that.
In Closing
If you’re thinking about Idaho, or it’s a place you want to check out because you’ve heard many good things about it, contact us. You can also call or text me at 208-860-2004 or email our team at info@tresurevalleydave.com. We’ve all moved here from somewhere else and are so glad we did.
