By Mae Hassman, CEO – Missoula Organization of Realtors
Beginning about 2003, often the lead story on the nightly news involved some aspect of what was happening with regard to the American real estate market. The stories occurred in three phases: (1) the rapidly escalating prices and expansion of new home starts; (2) the uncertainty about how long the pace could be sustained and speculation about what would happen if it didn’t; and (3) once the fall began, an ongoing analysis of the declining markets and what they mean for the economy.
That focus has brought home, perhaps in a way that no other chain of events could have, how integral housing and homeownership is to the health of the American economy, and the well-being of cities and neighborhoods, and ultimately individual citizens.
However, for anyone living in a community or thinking about moving there, the analysis becomes much more personal. What does it mean for this community? How does that translate to my neighborhood? How does that affect my investment, my lifestyle?
Missoula Urban Market Overview
In the Missoula urban market area, the number of properties sold in 2009 and 2008 were a dead heat at 899 and 901 respectively. The fact that sales are holding steady is a positive sign considering the fact that the sales in 2008 (901) were down by 344 transactions, from the total of 1245 closed in 2007.
The median price of $209,000 is about 3% lower than in 2008 at $215,000. And the days on market has increased only slightly as well, from 117 in 2008 to 126 in 2009.
But while median price is a generally accepted measuring stick, it is a little like the blind men and the elephant, who each have a perception of the animal based on the one part that he is touching. The market in the price range of $275,000 and under is behaving very differently from the market for higher priced properties.
Finally, no overview is complete without considering the effect of short sales (a property that sells for less than is owed) and foreclosures. Foreclosures accounted for approximately 12 -14% of the sales in 2009, and while that is higher than it has been, market figures above demonstrate that Missoula has a well-functioning market not significantly influenced by these distressed sales.
As the Missoula market continues to transition, homeowners who held onto hope that their property values would continue to escalate at double digit percentage points now recognize that those gains are a thing of the past. And buyers that hope to find a market rich with desperate sellers and a sea of bargain properties are finding that is also not the case.
Meanwhile, the bad news on the networks each night is now old news, and everyone is looking for signs of hope and stability, if not prosperity. Those signs will be found in the local market information, in individual neighborhoods and price ranges.
