Home Sales Tumble In Kootenai County

A sharp drop in March home sales in Kootenai County shows the local home market has a slight case of indigestion.

Kootenai County home sales in March plunged 35 percent from last year because of high inventory, Realtors said. But they said the market should be able to digest the oversupply of homes with an energetic summer selling season.

“We’re still blessed with having an area where people really want to live,” said John Beutler of John Beutler & Associates in Coeur d’Alene.

“I think that if you look at it from a rational standpoint, we really couldn’t maintain that record pace, and it wouldn’t have been healthy for our economy,” he said, referring to sales in 1994.

March’s home sales dip put the yearly figures 15 percent behind 1994’s pace. But that’s really what most market watchers expected, said Brian Stranger of Acuff Northwest Inc.

“I think those numbers are very realistic for what we thought would happen,” said Stranger, the president of the Multiple Listing Association. “I still think it’s an inventory problem where most people weren’t in a hurry to buy.”

The oddest figure to come from the multiple listing numbers was a 36 percent increase in the average price of homes sold in Post Falls.

Donny Beveridge, a Realtor for Treaty Rock Realty in Post Falls, said the preponderance of higher-priced new homes could be pushing the average price up. One-fourth of homes sold so far this year fell between the $85,000-$99,999 price range.

“I think builders are building a lot more of those homes for first-time buyers, who I deal with mostly,” he said.

The “sluggish” market will probably pick up if interest rates continue to be stable, he predicted.

Despite lagging behind in total number of sales, the market continues to show an overall increase in average price. For the year, prices are about $8,000 higher than at the same time in 1994.