1994 May Have Been High Tide For Kootenai Home Market

Though the 1995 Kootenai County market finished stronger than some real estate analysts predicted, the rip-roaring ‘90s appear to be over.

For the year, just 4 percent fewer homes changed hands in Kootenai County than in record-breaking 1994, according to numbers from the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service.

After starting the year about 15 percent off the 1994 pace, the 1995 market rallied nicely thanks in part to lower home prices and favorable home-loan interest rates.

The average price of a home sold in 1995 actually edged the average price of homes sold in 1994, according to the MLS numbers.

However, there’s plenty of inventory out there, said John Beutler, one of the most successful home sellers in the area. That glut of homes could make selling in 1996 somewhat tougher.

“I think we’re going to have a good market,” Beutler said, “but I think it’s going to be down from last year.”

The volume of commercial development has slacked, he said. Last year saw substantial new retail space appear on Seltice Way in Post Falls and several new office buildings on Northwest Boulevard and along Highway 95 in Coeur d’Alene.

The number of relocation inquiries to Kootenai County have dropped dramatically as well.

“Californians, our major market, is slowing down,” he said. “A lot of them cannot sell their homes there, so they’re not inquiring about coming here until they do that. The good news is that when they do finally sell their homes, then we’ll likely see an increase.”

Some Realtors welcomed the slightly slower pace this year. The market couldn’t accelerate much more than 1994’s pace, so moving buyers through the much larger inventory of homes becomes more manageable.

Despite slowing, the 1995 numbers eclipsed 1993’s totals and put the Kootenai County home market among the strongest in the region, Beutler said.

For the month of December, the market finished even with last December’s sales.

Coeur d’Alene finished a strong year of sales with a 19 percent increase in sales in December 1995 from the same month last year. Large developments such as Coeur d’Alene Place off Ramsey Road fueled sales there.

Continuing a trend felt throughout the region, home prices have bunched around the $100,000 level in Kootenai County. In 1995, more than half the homes sold fell between $70,000 and $124,999, according to the MLS numbers.

“I expect we could be down as much as 10 percent for this year,” Beutler said. “But there’s a lot of places out there that wished it could have a market like ours.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Home sales