BOISE REAL ESTATE: HOME SELLING ODDS IN 2012

January marks the start of a new year and a pivotal month to analyze housing data--including odds of selling your home in a particular market. This is a number calculated by comparing the number of properties available for sale on the open market vs. how many sell each month. Up until 2006, you could barely keep a home on the market in Boise, Idaho 30 days before it sold. I'm sure most of you can recall the frenzy of property-buying that went on in this and other hot real estate areas during the early 2000's. After the economy turned, the housing market saturated as investors quickly tried to dump properties at the same time panicked homeowners threw their homes up for sale, all coupled with the slew of new construction properties still being completed. Almost overnight, we flipped from a sellers' to a buyers' market. The 4th quarter of 2008 marked the worst point for home sales as the tail end of new construction homes were completed, and building slowed dramatically. Gradually, home prices came down, available properties were purchased, and the market slowly began to stabilize. Now, Boise has enjoyed nearly a year at the "healthy market point," meaning less than a six month supply of homes available for sale. Job availability, finance, and other economic indicators are still creating a buyers' market nationwide, but by all indications, 2012 should see home prices start to inch up. A good indicator of this are the steadily-rising prices on bank-owned foreclosures. Banks are learning that they don't have to price properties at rock bottom to get them to move anymore, even to move quickly. As numbers on those types of sales rise, so too, should the numbers on traditional sales. So what are the odds of you selling your home in 2012? Rest assured, they look healthy. Mike Turner, Front Street Brokers