Fire’s Out, But Spokane Housing Market Is Still Hot Magazine Ranks City Among Leaders Nationwide For Home Price Increases Since 1992

In a blast from the past, the April edition of U.S. News and World Report has ranked Spokane the nation’s fifth-hottest housing market among midsized cities.

Cities were ranked using a four-year average of housing price increases from 1992 to 1996. Since the rankings stretch back to the early 1990s, Spokane was able to land near the top, even though local real estate experts say the picture has changed.

When analyzing the 1995 economy, market experts agreed that the housing boom years of the early ‘90s are over and Spokane is returning to more normal patterns.

After slowing in 1995, the market picked up during the first two months of 1996, with home sales outnumbering the same months last year.

Some market analysts have gone so far as to predict home prices would decline during the coming year.

“It’s not a true picture,” Don Walker, communications director for the Spokane Association of Realtors, said of the U.S. News report. “You can make any case you want if you have enough figures to play with.”

But because the market was so flat in the ‘80s, Spokane did not show up in rankings such as U.S. News’ that use moving averages until the boom had subsided.

Ranked above Spokane among cities with a population of 300,000 to 1 million are Tucson, Ariz., with a 10.8 percent average increase; Albuquerque, N.M., and Colorado Springs, Colo., with 8.4 percent; and Eugene, Ore., with 8.2 percent.

Salt Lake City, with four-year average price increases of 12.8 percent, topped the list in the 1 million-plus population category.

The West Coast had such a strong showing, the magazine reported, because disenchanted Californians have fled their state’s feeble economy for the greener pastures of other states. That trend also has dissipated in Spokane.

Some people close to the real estate industry said ranking the housing industry by one factor - such as appreciation - is not an accurate reflection of the market.

“There are so many factors that affect that,” said Jan Ekstrom, owner of Janek Co., a real estate firm.

Other factors that should contribute to analysis of a housing market include land values, job growth and employment rate, she said.

Still, the Realtors cheered the recognition Spokane gets from such a strong showing in a national magazine.

“That’s a big plus for Spokane,” said Linda Besse, an associate broker with Prudential Crane.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Hot towns