Shaken by a growing flood of foreclosures and troubled homeowners, Idaho housing markets are making only slow progress towards recovering. The average number of days it takes for homes to sell is falling, however, which is a positive sign for markets.
The supply of foreclosures, which aren't necessarily listed by real estate agents, is rising even as the majority of the country sees foreclosure sales decline. Idaho is working through an over-abundance of inventory, both in new housing and re-sales that will have to be absorbed before any real sort of recovery will commence.
New home builders and real estate agents would like to see the supply reduced soon in order for markets to be on their way to stabilizing. Home sales are increasing at least in Boise even as housing prices decline. The increase in sales is attributed to the government's first time home buyers program. But new home building permits remain unseasonably low.
Boise will have to work through the excess inventory of homes with more lenient mortgage guidelines before the market will recover, and that is projected to take at least through the year. Housing Predictor forecasts Boise home prices to average deflation of 8.9% in 2010.
In neighboring Nampa, home sales rose sharply mainly because of lower prices, but fallout from tight credit markets is hurting. The first time buyers' incentive helped to increase sales, but is unlikely to bolster home sales much more as a result of its expansion to move-up buyers.
| City |
Forecast |
| Boise |
− 8.9% |
| Coeur d'Alene |
− 7.3% |
| Kellogg |
− 7.2% |
| Idaho Falls |
− 5.4% |
| Nampa |
− 8.2% |
Mortgage financing and a robust job market are key elements in housing markets and with growing unemployment in the area, Nampa will be hard pressed to see much improvement for a while. The foreclosure epidemic is hurting Nampa, which is forecast for housing prices to deflate 8.2% in 2010.
Rising foreclosures are hitting newly built small subdivision homes in Coeur d'Alene, many of which have not even been lived in before being taken back by bankers. The construction boom saw the largest number of new housing developments ever built in the community's history in Coeur d'Alene only to see the bottom of the market fall out.
The financial crisis has wiped out new home builders and sent housing prices spiraling downward. Coeur d'Alene is forecast to sustain housing drops to average 7.3% through year's end.
The housing bust followed the biggest boom in a generation in Idaho Falls, where markets haven't been this slow since the 1960s when mortgage interest rates were unreasonably high. The fall-out has resulted in hundreds of homes sitting vacant awaiting new buyers as bankers hold back on financing for many new buyers, who would like to get into the market. Idaho Falls prices won't be going up any time soon, however, with a surplus inventory and are forecast to lose 5.4% in value during 2010.
Kellogg was in the midst of being transformed into a major new winter snow skiing resort when the financial crisis hit from an old mining town. After the last new condominium units were closed new construction halted in Kellogg. Silver Mountain Ski Resort business is down amid the worst recession in decades as the consequences of the sour economy takes its toll on Kellogg, forecast to see an average deflation of 7.2% in 2010.
