BOISE, Idaho — This year, we saw a hot housing market finally start to slow down. The Boise Regional Realtors say the median sales price in Ada County dropped year-over-year for the first time since October 2014.
The recent Boise Regional Realtors reportrevealed that in November, the median sales price for a home was 2.5% lower than in November 2021 and 6.5% lower than in October 2022.
“What I’d like to say is that if you can fit this price point the payment into your budget, it's a great time to buy because you have more choices right now,” said Becky Enrico-Crum, President of Boise Regional Realtors.
In November 2022, there were 967 homes in inventory with a median sales price of $497,000 compared to 2021, with 426 homes in inventory with a median sales price of $510,000. With the market cooling off, more people are using first-time home buyers programs.
That's a change from the buying frenzy earlier this year, which made it difficult to make an aggressive offer with a home buyer program.
But Idaho Housing has made some recent changes to its first-time home buyers program.
“But what they did is that they just lowered the interest rate for first-time home buyers in that particular program,” said Becky Enrico-Crum.
With more inventory to choose from, many renters are leaning toward buying a home due to rising rents.
The Boise rental market has jumped almost 20% since the 3rd quarter of 2021, that's about $324.
“As we see the cost of home ownership being a little harder to get into, in an entry-level or just to get into in general. We do see landlords start increasing that rent because we are creating a lot more renters because home ownership is just not affordable,” said Greg Langhaim, Owner of
Go Idaho Team brokered by EXP Realty.
Interest rates have declined in recent weeks; the average was at 7.08% in November, now down to 6.33% in December. Real Estate professionals are hopeful rates will continue to decline or at least stabilize in 2023.
