housing: Almost mid-year numbers - 06/18/12 07:33 AM
We're just a few weeks away from the mid-way point in our markets and Missoula (much like other areas around our region) has had a very strong second quarter so far.  In fact when I prepared stats for the Missoula Organization of REALTORS(R) I knew the numbers would look good, however I didn't think they'd look this solid. 
 
Now with the info below you can take this two ways.  On one side there's the lower/normal supply rates in many segments suggesting a healthy market (range of 3 to 9 months absorption rate).  This is good for sellers and our market … (0 comments)

housing: Missoula's 1st half shaping up nicely - 05/14/12 09:07 AM
Missoula's good news with sales volume continues to roll in.  Right now (5/14) within just our valley and not looking at further out communities Missoula is up 32 residential sales compared to this time last year which represents a nearly 14.6% increase in volume sold.  Buyers are flooding the market with increased purchasing power and some more favorable conventional loan programs sneaking back into the scene. 
 
We're still 45 days out from the end of the 2nd quarter however if you tally up the sold homes so far in the MLS plus what is pending sale we could be looking … (0 comments)

housing: Time to get back to comparing apples to apples - 10/28/11 06:54 AM
If a lot of stat-dork REALTORS(R) like me have been constantly fuming about the continually incorrect messages the media has been sending out comparing 2010 to 2011, it's good to see that now when we look back to last year we're comparing similar markets.  For many of us in the industry we realized that over the course of 2009 and 2010 until August our market was heavy with incentives with the first time and "move up" home buyer tax credit.  Due to these added incentives those markets could not be accurately compared to 2010's which lacked any government-backed incentive such as the … (0 comments)

housing: The latest news from the Missoula Organization of Realtors - 09/07/10 05:16 PM
I just typed up a report for the Montana Association of REALTORS(R) yearly end of business meetings, it's all relevant stuff about what's been going on here and so I thought I'd share it here!  Message as follows:
 
Residential market, urban Missoula area:
 
YTD sales: 595, which is almost exactly on point to where it was last year at this time which was 597 sold homes.  The difference is that the current YTD median sales price for this year is $199,900 while at this same point last year it was $214,000.  This reduction in the median sales price, 6.6% … (0 comments)

housing: Who will lead? - 08/05/10 04:22 PM
As the REALTOR(R) image continues to slip in many aspects leaders of associations, brokerages, and the industry find themselves facing a critical junction as the new market emerges.  Gone are the days where the phone rang with new prospects almost every day, the lack of need for broker accountability, and endless association funds - instead those who skated by on new business and burned bridges are finding other lines of work, brokers are looking at quality over quantity, and REALTOR(R) associations are having to make tough choices in terms of services and benefits to local agents and the public. 
The market is changing too, … (7 comments)

housing: Looming housing shortage, and what it means for Missoula, MT - 07/26/10 07:55 AM
Two weeks back in Washington DC for the Realtor mid-year meetings I was pretty surprised to hear both Lawrence Yun and an economist with Moody's talk about an upcoming new construction housing shortage.  Yun talked about on average the US needs to be building about 1.6 million new homes per year, however in the last 3 years new builds are non-existent, and that currently the US is about 2.35 million homes short of meeting that need.  So what does that mean in the future?  A big shortage, and in doing a simple Google search I can see it's not just the … (0 comments)

housing: Tracking pending sales, pre and post tax credit deadline - 05/03/10 10:52 AM
Forgive me on the choppy post, but I thought I'd cut and paste two of my most recent blog posts regarding the market in the Missoula, Montana area.  The 1st post was put online on April 23rd, the 2nd one I put up today.
4/23/2010:
With 1 week to go before the tax credit expires things are frantic to say the least, buyers are making offers left and right, and some houses are getting quite a bit of activity right now!
I thought it would be interesting to see how our market holds up with new buyer activity once this tax … (0 comments)

housing: 2009 preliminary Missoula urban area stats - 01/04/10 07:32 AM
Not the official numbers as our MLS database is user-maintained.  Recorded sales are entered by the selling broker, and sometimes there is a bit of a delay with that data.
Pulling things up today, here's what I see for the Missoula Urban area:
Sales - 899 (down 1 from 900 in 2008) a flat trend, the peak was 1374 in 2006 so a 35.5% decrease off the peak.
Median Sales price - $209,000 (down $6,000 from $215,000 in 2008) continued downward pressure is on our median, the peak median price was $216,700 in 2007 so from that 2009's median sales price is … (0 comments)

housing: Thoughts / Summary after hearing economist Chris Thornberg - 10/16/09 08:50 AM
Every October Newwest.net holds a real estate conference regarding real estate and development in the Rockies.  Each year they've had an economist, Chris Thornberg, come and speak.  Chris has been on-target all three years, predicting the burst of the housing bubble, the effects of the stock market collapse, and the rise in foreclosures.  This year he was the keynote speaker, and here's what I took away from it:
The United States is pulling out of the recession, all signs point to that, we're no longer heading downhill.  In fact GDP growth in the 3rd quarter will be positive, the first time … (3 comments)

housing: Thoughts after an over-priced home tour - 06/05/09 06:51 AM
Yesterday there was a 12 home Realtor lunch tour on the south side of Missoula.  All of the houses were larger/newer homes in newer subdivisions, priced between $350,000 - $600,000.  For those of you unfamiliar with our market, that's probably what you'd consider the "top end" right now, there's higher priced stuff, but these are mostly large homes with 4+ bedrooms, newer, big lots as high as 2 acres, etc. 
After completing the tour it was sobering what is going on in our "top end" market, the general disconnect between agents and sellers, and how people still don't realize the changing … (6 comments)