HELENA — The past two years haven’t been kind to those looking for a home in Helena. The imbalance between supply and demand is only made worse by the increasing median home price. A recent report by the Moore Appraisal Firm helps to break down exactly what’s happening.
"It’s a supply and demand issue. Obviously, if you're looking to sell a home, it's a really good time to do it. Purchasing a home can be difficult right now,” says Shaun Moore, Real Estate Appraiser and owner of Moore Appraisal Firm.
Throughout the past two years, the national housing market has seen a boom in price and a huge increase in demand. COVID-19 allowed for many people to work from home thus prompting many to leave their lives in cities and move to more remote places with a bit more elbow room. Additionally, low-interest rates made it easy for people to obtain loans. This in turn has led to a much more competitive market throughout traditionally sleepier and cheaper priced towns such as Helena, thus increasing the median housing price here by over 26% in 2021.
While Helena’s prices have increased dramatically, other towns in Montana have been hit even harder. For example, the median single-family home price in Missoula shot up by about 45% from the end of 2019 to the end of 2021 according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I would just like to like people to know that, don't get discouraged because you know, we have a lot of clients at Big Sky Brokers that have been looking for a year or two, and things always even out,” says Maria Demaray, Real Estate Broker at Big Sky Brokers.
But the unprecedented increase in prices this past year has left many to wonder where things are headed in 2022. And while no one can predict the future, rising interest rates can limit the buying power of individuals
Shaun Moore of Moore Appraisal Firm says that many factors can impact the housing market including interest rates and the world climate. He says he doesn’t really give predictions, but from his experience, he says that things might slow down into 2022.
“I do not really give predictions, but just my professional opinion on what I think could happen this year is that we're going to continue to see an increase in the median home sales price. But I believe that increase will slow down. I don't think that we're gonna see another 26% through 2022,” says Moore.
No one truly knows how home prices and availability will change in the coming year. And with changing interest rates, we’ll have to wait and see how the market will respond.
