This report covers the residential land market (active listings and sales) in Kalispell Montana as of the end of November 2020. Similar to the housing market, land sales have been very strong.
Inventory
As of early December, there were 120 residential land parcels for sale in the Kalispell area, which is an increase of just 1 over last month. So basically, the number of land parcels in inventory has remained level over the last few months.
Of the land currently for sale, 57 listings include five or more acres. While most of the land in Montana could be considered rural, I define rural as those properties in the 5+ acre category. Those are most likely to be parcels located on a gravel mountain road, or adjacent to National Forest or lumber parcels. They are often not located in a development, but by themselves, and provide privacy and multiple building and use options.
This month, the active properties over five acres range in price from $109,900 to $5.9M with an average price of $817K. The listing at the lowest end of the price spectrum is nearly 10 acres or property, with views of mountains and with a gated entrance, power and phone. The highest priced property remains the 359 acre property that has been farmed for years, but could provide development or investment options. There is a possibility for a 700 home development on the site.
As you can see, price per acre can vary dramatically from listing to listing. The 10 acre parcel is approximately $11,000 per acre while the 359 acre plot is more than $16,000. But looking at all parcels for sale, the least expensive price per acre is $3,718 and the most is $917,000 an acre. Now that is a huge difference!
In terms of the listings below five acres, many are located in developments. These parcels range in size from .12 of an acre to 4.6 acres and in price from $59,900 to $790,000 with an average price of $143K. Many of these come with monthly or annual HOA fees. They are also often covered by CCRs or Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions which define rules for building and living in that area.
The bottom line with land in Kalispell, Montana is that every piece is unique, with different requirements, rules, views, utility options, amenities and of course prices. If you want to purchase land, in addition to knowing what you want to spend, you'll need to know how you want to use it, what kind of amenities you might like, and what kinds of rules you could live with. That will help you and your real estate professional select the right locations and parcel sizes!
Sales Trends
Land listings continue to sell at a very strong rate this year. In fact, there have been 44% more land sales through November 2020 than for the same time period in 2019. In addition, there are currently 21 pending/under contract land deals, so the December results should remain strong, but also should start to show the typical Winter slow down. That being said, I do believe the results will continue to outperform last year.
Length of Time to Sell
Land listings typically take longer to sell than home sales. The average days on market for land during 2020 has been 7.3 months. Last year, the average for the same time period was 8.4 months. While those numbers do show that land listings are, on average, selling slightly faster, it's not that big of a difference to move the residential land market to a seller's market.
As mentioned in last months report, my explanation of the longer timeframe to sell land has to do with the buyer market. There are fewer buyers who want to start from scratch, buying the land and then waiting for a home to be built. And those buyers who ARE interested in doing so have very particular requirements. It sometimes takes them quite a while to find the right parcel that has the right views, is facing in the correct direction, has the right kind of building site, has the required utilities, the desired covenants (or not) and so on. Once they do find that perfect parcel, it takes some time to do their due diligence. Can they get appropriate internet and cell service? Are the roads passable in the winter? Who plows them? What might it cost to dig a well or add a septic system? So the estimated 7 months from listing to sales is not unreasonable.
Sales Prices
As mentioned before, average or median sales prices are meaningless when discussing land sales. The qualities of one lot over another are so different as to make most comparisons moot. That being said, I am including a view of the total dollar value of all land sold per month to provide some kind of comparison to the previous year.
As can be seen by the red bars in the chart below, the total value of land sold in 2020 far exceeds 2019. Through the end of November, there has been more than $46M of land sold. The total amount sold last year was less than $25M. So this year is already nearly 90% higher than all of last year. Also of interest, there are currently 22 land parcels under contract with a list price value of nearly $8M. Needless to say, by the end of 2020 we will have seen double the value of land sold than in 2019.
In terms of the lowest and highest prices for a land parcel (not acre), the lowest price parcel in November sold for around $40K. It was 0.22 of an acre in close to town with access to city septic. At the other end of the price range were 74 acres of land on the east side of Kalispell with farm land, old growth timber, a pond/wetland area and mountain views. This sold right around $850K. The bottom line about prices for land - no matter your budget, you can find options in your price range!
Summary
Every piece of land is unique, even those in a development. Views can be dramatically different just moving from one acre to another. I love walking land with clients! If you are interested in selling or buying land, and you want to work with a boot-wearing broker who is ready to find the borders, call me at 406-270-3667. I'd be happy to help! To see previous land-related market reports, click here. And to see current land listings, click here (scroll to bottom).
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