Kootenai County Home Sales On Track To Match ‘94 Record Average Price Edged Higher Last Month While Total Sold Dipped

As the weather heats up, the home sales market usually follows. And while June sales numbers for Kootenai County merely kept pace with last year, the market continues to beat early predictions.

Only two more homes changed hands in June 1995 than did during this June, according to figures from the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service.

For the year, the Kootenai County home sales market is up 11 percent over last year. That puts the year’s pace closer to the all-time record numbers of 1994.

“We have just had an extremely good first half of the year,” said Allen Plahn, a former president of the Realtor’s Association here. “I don’t see any big problems until the election.”

The average price of homes sold last month bettered last year’s price by barely 1 percent. Homes in Hayden Lake and in the Dalton Gardens area sold for an average of 24 percent more, and that elevated June’s overall average prices.

The area typically has the highest average home price in the county because of its many new, larger homes and homes with views.

For the year, homes are selling for 3 percent less than they did through 1995 at this time. That lower pricing has helped the market along considerably, real estate watchers say. The market here has plenty of inventory, which has helped moderate prices and move homes.

An ever-increasing number of homes sold for between $85,000 and $100,000. So far this year, more than 27 percent of homes fell in that price range.

Some market watchers predicted a continued drop in home sales, as well as in new home construction. But for the first half of the year, the market looks more like record-setting 1994 than the slower 1995.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Home sales