Federal study:Idaho home prices rose fast

Posted: Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006 - 10:38:08 pm PST
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By LUCY DUKES
Staff writer 

But local Realtors say market is leveling off here

COEUR d'ALENE -- While a federal study indicates home prices in Idaho rose the fastest of any state in the third quarter of 2006, some Coeur d'Alene Realtors say prices aren't moving much and are even declining in the local market.

They also say the market's still good.

"I've seen the market had went up so highly a year ago, to where people that put their houses on the market priced them too high, so they had to come down to where it should have been in the first place," said Fay Harrington, Realtor with Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices appreciated 17.5 percent in Idaho compared with the same quarter in 2005. Utah was second with a 17.4 percent increase.

According to the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service, the average price of a single-family home through October in Coeur d'Alene went up 15.5 percent over last year, in Post Falls 12.5 percent, and Rathdrum 25.2 percent.

Last year, the average home price in Coeur d'Alene was $208,510 and this year was $240,735. Prices in surrounding communities rose as well, according to the MLS.

Sales declined 34.5 percent in Coeur d'Alene through October, 30.9 percent in Post Falls and 8 percent in Rathdrum.

While prices may have stabilized, a study commissioned by the city of Coeur d'Alene, the Lake City Development Corp. and the Idaho Housing and Finance Association determined only 6 percent of the units for sale in the county in 2006 were affordable for the city's workforce.

The Denver-based firm, BBC Research and Consulting, reported that renters earning between $30,000 and $40,000 a year -- typically the city's workforce -- could afford a home in the $100,000 to $140,000 range.

For awhile, appreciation escalated prices unrealistically, exceeding $200 per square foot, Harrington said.

"Homes don't usually sell for that much," she said.

New homes today are selling for $150 per square foot and older homes are closer to $100 per square foot, she said.

Harrington said the market started picking up in November and December.

"We do need more properties that are the type that people are looking for," she said. "These are homes with a little land and maybe a shop on it, three-car garages."

Buyers can even find "nice price" homes for $150,000, she said, which wasn't true a year ago.

Century 21 Beutler and Associates Realtor John Beutler found 29 properties listed between $100,000 and $150,000 in Coeur d'Alene, nine in Post Falls and three in Hayden Lake. Typically, a buyer would get 800 to 1,100 square feet for that price, he said.

Beutler believes housing prices reached a high in September and October 2005.

While sales are down from 2005, they are in line with 2004 sales -- and that was a record-breaking year at the time, Beutler said.

Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors past president and Re/Max by the Lake broker Karen Corcoran said she isn't seeing prices drop at the high end but entry-level prices are coming down slightly.

"I think compared to the national market, our market is still very strong," she said.

"This is still the place to live."