The Result of Five Years of Appreciation in the Boise Real Estate Market

You have heard it before, "buying a home is a great investment." But just how good has owning real estate in the Boise market actually been?

As it turns out, probably better than you think.

The median home value in Boise has risen for eight years in a row. If you bought a house in that timeframe, you have most likely done very well.

While some fortunate buyers may have purchased at the market bottom, about half have purchased in the last five years, making that a better frame of reference.

Between the first half of 2014 and the first half of 2019, median home values in Boise jumped a staggering 68.4%.

So what happened if you bought a house in Boise five years ago?

If you bought in 2014, you paid the then median price of $193,000 and like the typical buyer, put 11 percent down and had a mortgage rate of 4.17 percent. Today, your home would be worth $330,000 and you would be sitting on $169,500 in equity.

Not bad for a $21,000 investment.

Even more records

Ada County's single-family median home price jumped to $352,000, yet another new record, in June. For those keeping count, that's the third this year.

Boise home prices rose to $348,750. The fifth record in as many months.

House prices in Canyon County finished out the first half of the year at $247,500. Just short of lasts months all-time record.

A robust local economy, population growth, limited housing supply, and mortgage rates near three-year lows continue to drive Treasure Valley appreciation higher.

Methodology: Based on the median sold price for single-family homes for the first six months of each year.

This month I decided to take a look at Boise metro appreciation by area.

First of all, appreciation adds up. Even a one percent difference in appreciation can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in just a few years.

The takeaway

The lowest cost areas have seen the most appreciation while the highest have seen the least.

The three appreciation leaders, Caldwell, Nampa, and Kuna, offered the cheaped houses five years ago while he appreciation laggards started with the most expensive. If you have been a regular reader, this is no doubt a trend you are well aware of.

What Areas of Metro Boise Have Appreciated the Most in the Last 5 Years?

Where is Boise housing market appreciation headed?

That's the real question, isn't it?

The truth is, no one really knows. Precisely predicting home values more than 6 to 12 months in the future is notoriously tricky. A carefully thought out hypothesis that makes a lot of sense now can look pretty foolish even a year from now.

There are so many factors that affect local home prices over the long term, both the national and local economies, mortgage rates, employment trends and wages, population growth, general changes in demographics, the pure desire to want to own a home, rental prices, trends towards multigenerational housing, anti-development sentiment, etc.

While there are still very few signs of a Boise housing bubble, double-digit, even high single-digit home price appreciation isn't sustainable over the long term.

Realistically, appreciation will be lower over the next five years than the last.

June Boise Real Estate Market

• Median list price - $349,900 (up 18.61%)
• Median sold price - $348,750 (up 17.42%)
• Price per square foot - $195 (up 10.17%)
• Total home sales - 497 (down from 569)
• Median days on market - 7 days (up 1 day)
• Available homes for sale - 1.37 month supply (up from 1.02)
• 30-year mortgage rates - 3.80% (up from 4.57%)

Housing Markets by Area

Median sales price:

• Ada County - $352,000
• Eagle - $467,000
• Garden City - $377,975
• Kuna - $288,900
• Meridian - $344,950
• Star - $397,500
• Canyon County - $247,500
• Caldwell - $229,900
• Middleton - $260,000
• Nampa - $247,990

Lisa Kohl

Lisa carefully studies the local housing market to give her clients the edge when buying or selling a home in Idaho. We Know Boise is a full-service real estate team that combines our LOCAL expertise with traditional know-how to create exceptional results for each of our clients.

Email Lisa

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Information in this market report was obtained from the Intermountain MLS (IMLS) on July 8th, 2019. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed. City data refers to single-family homes on less than one acre, while county data includes homesites of all sizes. Current inventory is calculated on a twelve-month rolling average. Combining existing homes for sale with new construction is the best way to gauge current home prices and Boise housing market trends. New house prices are much more volatile and can create unreliable comparisons particularly on a month to month basis.