If you have lived in Bozeman in the past ten years or so you have seen what a roller coaster the real estate market can be and the growth in our community. All you have to do is look at the numbers…in 2003 the median price for a single family home was $189,000 and by the height of the real estate bubble in 2006 that price went up to $310,000. Then everything changed again in 2008 when the countries financial crisis hit. While Bozeman wasn’t hit quite as hard as some markets like Detroit or Las Vegas we still felt it. From 2008-2009 the median home price dropped 9.7% from $285,850 to $258,225*. Many real estate experts said this time in Bozeman was more of a market correction of the inflated prices of mid 2000’s. Around 2010 things regulated some and it was a good time to buy a house in the Bozeman area. Over the past few years we have continued to see home prices increase at a rapid pace. Downtown is booming with expensive urban-style condos going up and new subdivisions are popping up all over town and spreading towards Four Corners and Belgrade. Talks and concerns of affordable housing come up at city commission meetings and leave many wondering where is the Bozeman real estate market heading?
Jim Applebee, a realtor for 15 years in the Bozeman area has seen the ups and downs of the market and has some insight on where it may be going. He believes Bozeman real estate is booming because it is a great place to live. There are more job opportunities due to the growth and development of the city. Also with the university expansion, more students are coming to MSU and then sticking around or their parents come visit, realize what a great place it is and move here. Bozeman is also becoming more of a retirement destination with an increasing number of retirees moving to the area. The largest predicted growth areas in the country are towns like Bozeman in the Rocky Mountain West with universities, so it seems like we have just scratched the surface on growth here.
Construction and development will have to continue to increase with occasional fluctuations as the number of people in the area will most likely substantially increase over the next twenty years. As we’ve seen in the past several years, the growth will go west and north west of town with limited growth to the south.
One major trend in Bozeman real estate we’ve seen over the years and are continuing to see right now is when the countries market is good, then Bozeman’s second home and higher dollar properties sell. Most of the homes in Bozeman that are listed over 1 million are purchased by out of state buyers.
It’s always hard to predict the future, especially when it comes to real estate. The most important lesson to take away from Bozeman real estate…there will be natural market increases and decreases but the values and prices will continue to grow substantially over time.
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