Kootenai County home sales decline

Kootenai County saw a 23 percent decline in total home sales from February through July this year, the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service reported. The service said 1,049 homes sold in that period, compared with 1,358 in the same time frame of 2006.

North Idaho’s total home sale activity, including the four other Panhandle counties, slipped by 21 percent from the previous year, the service reported.

“This is a downshifting that was anticipated by those who track this data,” said Avista Chief Economist Randy Barcus. While North Idaho continues growing, the rate of job growth has slowed, he said.

In Kootenai County, the median price of a home sold from February through July of 2007 was $204,500. That’s 1.4 percent above the median from the same time period in 2006.

Barcus said measuring home sales every six months makes sense because monthly reports are too volatile and waiting a full year doesn’t show trends quickly enough.

The data used by the CDA MLS only include homes on lots under one acre and exclude lakefront homes.

When all possible residential sales are counted, North Idaho’s home sales fell 16.5 percent from the February-July time period in 2006. That larger group of sales ranges from inexpensive motor homes on rented lots to higher-end lakefront homes, the MLS said.

During the 2007 half-year period, the lowest sale was $6,000 and the highest was $10.5 million, the MLS reported.

The average length of time on the market was 119 days for all homes listed in North Idaho.