Real estate market continues at torrid pace

The housing market in Columbia Falls continues to move at a blistering pace.

The median price in 2020 from Jan. 1 to June 1 was $269,000, Kim Wortman, a real estate agent and certified public accountant with Remax Mountain View in Columbia Falls said last week.

The median price this year in the same time period is now $369,000, she said.

That’s an increase of about 37% and prices keep going up.

Homes outside the city limits with acreage are going for much higher than that — one recent listing of a 4,000-plus square foot home on about five acres was just under $1 million.

“Market conditions are bonkers right now,” said Erick Robbins, a Realtor with Remax Mountain View.

Robbins said it’s a perfect storm of pent-up demand, people wanting to move here, low inventory and low interest rates driving the market to unseen heights.

A home that’s priced appropriately will see multiple offers and will often sell above the asking price, Robbins noted.

While that might be great for the seller, it’s not so great for the buyers, particularly first-time home buyers, Robbins noted.

Those are the type of buyers he’s spent most of his 19-year career in real estate working with. But today, there’s bidding wars for homes and plenty of cash deals.

The first-timers are suffering.

“They’re getting squeezed,” he said. “They’re getting outbid.”

It used to be home buyers would have support from government-backed programs.

“We’re just not seeing those anymore,” he said.

Robbins said the bulk of sellers are leaving the area or off-selling investment properties, particularly Canadians, who can’t currently cross the border due to coronavirus restrictions.

The current market is worrisome, Robbins noted, because it’s getting difficult for a family to afford a home, even a modest one that’s a “fixer upper.”

Assuming 5% down, with taxes and insurance, a $369,000 at 3% interest will run about $1,900 a month.

In order to afford that, assuming a family has saved enough money for a down payment, they’d have to have an annual household income of about $76,000, assuming they don’t have any other large debts, like student loans, credit cards or other debt, based on an affordability calculator at mortgageloan.com/.

In Columbia Falls, just finding a home can be difficult. Robbins said typically inventory is about 6 months on the market in a solid market. Now, inventory is on the market a little over a month.