Southeast Idaho has glut of high-priced homes

IDAHO FALLS – There are so many high-priced homes for sale in southeast Idaho that it could be years before they all attract buyers, experts predict.

“I see a huge slowdown on luxury custom-built homes,” said Ryan Nickel, owner of Cherry Creek Mortgage in Rexburg.

Based on the number of homes available for sale and the rate at which they are selling, Jefferson County has a 20-year inventory of homes priced at $500,000 or higher, the Snake River Regional Multiple Listing Service reported.

Bingham County has a nine-year inventory and Bonneville County a three-year inventory.

Many of the homes were built in anticipation of future buyers.

“What happened was the builders mismatched the market,” said Steve Taggart, a Realtor with Century 21 Advantage. “Two years ago, we had all these people coming up from California, so they went and built all these high-end spec homes.”

While sellers are facing problems, Nickel said buyers should be able to get a good deal.

Also, the area is still considered one of the better spots to buy a home for investors, said Hyrum Johnson of Fine Homebuilding.

For the third quarter of 2007, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight recently ranked Idaho Falls sixth in the nation out of 287 metro areas for home price appreciation.