• Positive: Meridian’s average/median sales prices are stable vs. a year ago’s numbers.
• Positive: Eagle’s listing inventory is down to only 318 homes (was 574 in July, 2008).
• Positive: Eagle’s vacant listings are down to 33% (vs. more than 50% for the rest of the county).
• Positive: Ada County’s average sales price declined only 1.9% year-over-year.
• Negative: Ada County and Meridian listing inventory has increased (not what we want to see in Summer).
• Negative: 57.1% of Meridian’s listing inventory is vacant.
• Negative: We sold fewer homes this July vs. last July despite lower prices and lower interest rates.

Observations:

• Market activity has slowed since the end of the federal tax credits, but the market has not collapsed.
• We are surely somewhere near “the bottom” (prices will not go to zero!)
• I remain concerned about our economy, jobs, and the possibility of a double-dip recession.
• It is stunning to see some homes in Eagle selling for half the price per square foot of just 3-4 years ago.
• Interest rates at 50-year lows, combined with today’s attractive prices, are what’s driving this market.

• 2,374 homes available
• January Closed Sales = 108
• February Closed Sales = 106
• Total YTD Closed Sales = 214
• Months’ Supply Of Available Homes = 22.2

Data pertains to Canyon County single-family homes on lot/acreage and does not include condo or townhome properties.

• 1.8% of all U.S. homes are IN foreclosure (which means 98.2% are NOT!)
• 33% of all owner-occupied homes don’t even have a mortgage!
• 18% of all U.S. mortgages are upside with 2/3 of them located in 7 states (Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia)
• 2.8% of all U.S. mortgages are three or more months in arrears.
• There are 18.6 million vacant homes in the U.S. now.
• 54.4% of all Ada County homes for sale are vacant
• Average Ada County agent sold 1.6 homes in 2008
• Ada County average price = $311,607
• Ada County median price = $234,900

Sources: Title Solutions, Inc./Intermountain MLS

Average and median prices are for January closed sales of single-family residences on lot/acreage and do not include condo or townhome properties.

I have completed my 2008 Ada County Real Estate Market Review.

This exhaustive, in-depth report breaks out 2008 vs. 2007 residential real estate activity by each MLS area, and also includes an overall Ada County section.

To receive your own copy of this 19-page report, please e-mail me with your snail mail address.

The Southwest Idaho chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) recently completed a vacancy survey rental properties in the Boise real estate market.

Here’s what they found:

Vacancy       Avg. Rent

Single-Family Homes

One-Bedroom Single-family Home                 3.8%                $    540

Two-Bedroom Single-Family Home               3.8%                $    680

Three-Bedroom Single-Family Home            6.8%                $    858

Four-Bedroom Single-Family Home              8 .3%               $1,023

Five-Bedroom+ Single-Family Home             7.5%               $1,275

Overall Single-Family Vacancy                         6.5%                  N/A

Apartments

Studio Apartment                                                  11.4%              $    400

One-Bedroom Apartment                                     4.2%               $   485

Two-Bedroom Apartment                                    7.5%              $    585

Three-Bedroom+ Apartment                              6.4%              $    782

Overall Apartment Vacancy                                6.5%                 N/A

This survey was a sampling with 14 of 39 property managers responding, comprised of 2,790 units, of which 1,193 were single-family homes and 1,597 were multi-family with 2-15 units.

Trey’s article says only 93 Treasure Valley builders pulled more than one permit in 2008.

Even more interesting is the fact that the pace of permits they pulled dwindled by 50% in the 2nd half of 2008.

Check out the article here.

Active Listings:

• 2007: 4,968
• 2008: 5,052

Average Sales Prices

• 2007 Average Sales Price: $282,483
• 2008 Average Sales Price: $262,381
• % Change: -7.1%

Median Sales Prices

• 2007 Median Sales Price: $238,900
• 2008 Median Sales Price: $210,000
• % Change: -12.1%

YTD Closed Sales: (number of homes sold)

• 2007: 4,032
• 2008: 2,730
• % Change: -32.3%

Months’ Supply of Listings

• 2007: 7.4
• 2008: 11.1

Phil’s Plainspoken Summary:

• We have enough homes for sale to last nearly a year if no more were listed.
• We are selling 2/3 as many homes as we were a year ago at lower prices.

Notes:

1. Data pertains to Ada County single-family homes on lot/acreage.
2. Data is for the 1st half of each year.
3. Months’ supply calculated by dividing the average number of YTD closed sales per month into the number of active listings.

Yeah, 2005 was just great ~ everyone and their cat got their real estate licenses, we had busloads of speculators/flippers flooding into the Boise area trying to buy every home in some of our subdivisions, and everyone thought homes would continue to appreciate at 24% per year forever.

Now that we are back to a normal market, the media remains obsessed with comparisons to the 2005 real estate market.

Guess what, folks ~ 2005 was an aberration, an anomaly, unrealistic, and (insert your own description here).

2005 was then; 2008 is now!

The market we have is the market we have and all of those silly comparisons to 2005 are meaningless.

I wonder if the media will still be comparing current real estate market statistics to 2005 in 2015?