Home Prices Have Changed in Boise Idaho April 2023

You're going to be hearing in the news and from many realtors that the Boise Housing market is down 16% year over year and housing prices fell but as we unpack the latest data and understand the reality on the ground, all signs are pointing to the Boise Housing market turning around. 

Homes are once again starting to fly off the market and I've got clients missing out on homes that are hitting the market and gone within a couple days. Lets dive into what's really happening here in Boise and what you need to know if you're looking to buy a home here.

If you are looking to buy a home here in Idaho and were waiting for prices to come down, well, it look like we have bottomed out and homes are starting to fly off the market and starting to swing back up. In fact, I just had a client interested in 8 homes from a single builder and all of them were gone within a few days of her wanting to see them. I'm about to unpack for you the top line home prices you may hear about in Boise aren't really what's happening here. 

If you’re looking to time a housing market, which is nearly impossible to do, then you’ll want to jump in now before prices really start to rise again. If you’re a seller that’s been waiting for housing prices to stabilize so you’re not chasing the market down, this is the time to list your home for the Spring and Summer selling season. We’re going to cover exactly what you need to do if you’re looking to buy or sell a home in this video. 

Again, this is different from what you will hear in the mainstream media! They will be reporting data that is several months old and telling you that home prices are going down and mortgage rates are going up! But the complete opposite is true and home prices are starting to rise and mortgage rates went down and have stabilized around 6.5%. Stay tuned for why I think we are on the verge of home prices will continue to rise. 

If you’ve been following me, you’ll know that Mortgage rates are really tied to Inflation, not the Fed raising or lowering overnight lending rates to banks. The reason for this is that banks have to lend money at or above inflation rates. You’ll also know that I’ve been predicting that inflation rates will continue to fall and mortgage rates with them and sure enough, Inflation has fallen again to 5% down from 6.04% last month and 6.4% the month before.

Mortgage rates are currently sitting at about 6.5% down from 6.9% last month. If inflation continues to fall and mortgage rates fall accordingly, we could see a huge uptick in demand this summer. In fact, for every 1% drop in interest rates, 5 million buyers come eligible to purchase homes. We’re seeing sales activity here in Boise and the U.S. really picking up as we head into the Spring and Summer months. 

We’re seeing all that pent-up demand I’ve been talking about, especially from millennials starting to get unleashed. We're not seeing bidding wars returning here in Idaho, but well-priced and prepared homes are selling quicker now. Couple that with potentially millions of new buyers entering the market nationally because of lower interest rates in the next couple of months and prices could really start to surge. 

Let’s dive into what is actually happening here in the Boise housing market. We're going to look first at Ada County which is composed of Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Kuna, and Star followed by Canyon County which is essentially Caldwell, Nampa, and Middleton and you're going to find an even stronger turnaround in Canyon County. The combined median price for Ada County was $483,450. 

Now that number was down a touch from $492000 the month before, but here is what you're not going to hear anywhere else. Existing re-sale homes - meaning homes that are owned by homeowners or investors and being sold were UP slightly to $475,000 from $472,000. It appears we hit a bottom in February 2023. The days on market for re-sale homes fell by nearly 2 weeks from 58 days to 46 days meaning homes are selling almost 2 weeks faster than they were over the past couple of months.

Again, this is an average of all homes, so you've got some dogs sitting on the market, but a great home is selling in the first 1-3 weeks now. Now what's dragging that overall median price number down right now is New Construction. That price fell from $530,000 to $507,500 but still up from a low in January of $495,000. What we've been seeing is the builders have been selling off their existing inventory with both lower pricing and incentives like closing costs covered, interest rate buy-downs etc. 

And some of this lower pricing on New construction is hitting from contracts made last summer when builders were entering contracts at lower prices to sell pre-sold homes. There is very little Builder Inventory or Spec homes available any longer. Almost everything are pre-sold homes meaning you have to buy and then wait 6-9 months for the home to be completed and builders have stopped cutting prices and are offering fewer and fewer incentives. 

Now that was for Ada, let's take a look at Canyon County meaning Caldwell, Nampa, and Middleton. The median price ticked back up to $395,000 up from $390,000. Now the price in Canyon County has been bumping around from $390 to $395 thousand since December, so at the very least it's showing a bottoming out of the market. But we saw a big jump in existing resale home prices. It's now up to $380,000. This is up from a low in December of $342,000. At the very height of the market, the median price in Canyon was $425,000 so we're only $45,000 away from a full market recovery.

If you’re thinking of buying, and you’ve been trying to time the market at the bottom, I’m here to tell you, it looks like we hit the bottom and prices are turning around. If you’re ready to stop renting and buy your first home, or make that move-up or downsize home purchase, now really is the time to start jumping back in. I’ve been saying the window of opportunity for Buyers to purchase a home and negotiate price reductions, lots of repairs, and credits was going to close around April of this year and that’s now what I’m seeing to be true. 

Now some homes you still will have negotiation power and it really comes down to each home you’re looking at. Depending on a home is positioned, meaning priced, home improvements are done, and marketed will depend on how much buyer interest there is in the home. If there is a lot, then you’re just not going to have much negotiation power to extract credits and price reductions. If a home is over-priced, then there will be less interest and you’ll have more power. 

This is why you need to contact me to help you buy a home so we can analyze each home you’re interested in and find out what offers a strategy to use on that home. Every home is different and requires a different offer strategy. Just be prepared that our options are going to be much more limited now than a few months ago. And you’re going to want to get ahead of the large pool of buyers that will unleash. 

If you are planning to sell a home, this is everything you need to know to be successful in selling your home in today’s market. Even though buyer demand is getting stronger and prices are stabilizing, we are still not fully back in a Sellers Market. We are essentially in a “balanced market” meaning, it’s more important than ever that you call me so we can put together a customized plan to sell your home on the best terms you’re looking for. 

We’ll make sure we don’t overprice the home, causing it to sit for months. Instead, we’ll price it with my proven strategy to generate tons of traffic online, which will turn into showings, offers then a bidding war. This will give you the leverage you need to get the price and terms that you want. Also, be aware that even with multiple offers, you may still need to be prepared to give some closing cost credits to help buyers with interest rate buy downs so they can afford the home. 

If you are wanting to get an idea of what your home may sell for and what it should be priced at contact me and I’ll run a no-obligation home value for you. That’s a complete overview of the housing market here in Boise. Leave a comment or email me back and let me what you thought, and I’ll see you on the next video.

Curtis Chism

Chism Team @ eXp Realty
(208) 510-0427
curtis@chismteam.com

Curtis Chism

Chism Team @ eXp Realty
(208) 510-0427
curtis@chismteam.com