Real estate market in Columbia Falls takes off, again

The real estate market in Columbia Falls is surging.

Kelley Appraisal recently released its mid-year real estate market trends update for Flathead County, and Columbia Falls home prices showed dramatic increases compared to other cities in the Flathead.

In 2016, the median home price in the Flathead was $255,000 and the average price was $326,715. In the first half of 2017, the median was $269,000 and the average was $335,993. The median price has increased 5.5 percent and the average by 2.8 percent. Compare that to Columbia Falls, where the median home price - $265,000 - has increased 24.1 percent over last year’s $213,501 and the average - $287,140 - has increased 20.7 percent since 2016, when it was $237,871.

Only Lakeside shows a similar increase in the average, at a 22 percent increase, but the 2017 median home price in Lakeside is only 8.1 percent higher than last year.

Kalispell home prices have increased, too, but not by the same degree - the median price is 8.6 percent higher this year, and the average a modest 2.7 percent higher. Whitefish actually saw a decrease in average value, at a 7.1 percent drop, but the median price increased 2.5 percent.

Throughout the Flathead, residential volume is highest in the summer months, and 2017 has the highest-ever volume in May and June. All months have shown residential volume increases since 2010.

Sales are increasing, too, and they have been since a major drop in 2009. The previous peak in sales was in 2006, and 2017 has that beat.

Bank ownership of residential homes is also lower in 2017 than ever before. The years 2010, 2011, and 2012 saw the highest rates of bank ownership.

The percentage of new listings sold has decreased since 2000, however. Seventeen years ago, 97.1 percent of new listings were bought. That decreased until 2009, which had an 8.7 percent rate of listings sold. The rates slowly increased until 2016, when they were 42.6 percent, and in 2017 show about 33.6 percent to date.