From a seller’s market to a buyer’s: Spokane, Coeur d’Alene home sales enter rush period as economic challenges shift tides

Buds emerging on tree limbs and green grass on Lilac City lawns mark the start of the spring boom when Realtors begin the annual rush to sell homes.

This year’s peak time to list a home was beginning to show a ton of promise. Until 30 days ago, mortgage rates and interest rates had fallen below 6%, the economy appeared to be chugging along, and the inventory of homes began to rise.

But a conflict erupted when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, which responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices began to climb, as did interest rates and economic uncertainty.

“The Iran conflict is squeezing homebuyers from multiple sides, as higher rates reduce buying power and higher oil prices undermine consumer confidence and squeeze budgets,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com

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The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit 6.46% on Thursday, according to mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac. That is up from 6.38% the prior week and marks five straight weeks of increases after rates fell below 6%.

The war also has pushed up oil prices, which have jumped more than 50% since the end of February. The national average price of gasoline edged up to $4.08 a gallon Thursday, according to data from the AAA, some 37% higher since U.S. and Israeli planes began bombing Iran.

“As long as the conflict remains a threat to the price of petroleum, markets are going to continue to price higher inflation risks, which will translate into higher mortgage rates,” Eugenio Alemán, the chief economist at the investment bank Raymond James, wrote in an email to the New York Times.

As a result, the number of homes on the market continues to climb because they are not selling quickly, said Hale, who posted her comments on social media on March 27.

“Mortgages are still lower than they were one year ago,” she said. “But home shoppers have had to reset their budgets over the last few weeks, and this is likely to be a drag on home sales in the next few months.”

While Hale noted data that shows the best time to sell a home landed this week for Seattle, Tom Hormel, a broker with RE/MAX of Spokane, said the local home-sale rush started early in Spokane after a winter with little snow.

“Everybody in my office that I’ve talked to said the spring market has sprung in mid-February and it’s not slowed down,” Hormel said. “If you price it right, it’s selling quickly. And if you price it wrong, it’s just sitting. Buyers have choices. But if you price it right, it’s gone.”

Michael Wendland, a past president of Coeur d’Alene Regional Realtors, said he has received five calls in the past week from Western Washington homebuyers looking to escape the new tax on incomes over $1 million that Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law last week.

“We are going to see a large migration from that,” he said.

But like his counterparts in Spokane, Wendland said the local market was ready to flex its muscles until other economic factors hit.

“March 15 rolls around, and we get that one week of 55 to 60 degrees and the Inland Northwest starts going crazy,” he said. “Everybody was super excited 30 days ago.”

Then the interest and mortgage rates spiked in late March.

“That’s definitely taken a little bit of a toll on the market,” he said.

Buyers’ market

While home prices have remained historically high, and more so in Kootenai County, the heady days of a seller’s market with homes generating multiple cash offers over listing price have withered away.

Suzy Dix, a broker with Windermere Manito, said she had a client last year who wanted to list a home for about $1.2 million. He waited.

“He said, ‘It must be worth $1.4 million now,’ ” Dix said. “I said, ‘No. It’s $1.2 million. People are overpricing them. They just think that because it’s a year later, the price should be higher.”

According to data from Spokane Realtors, the median price of a home in the Spokane area in February was $403,998, which was down about 2% from the $412,375 median price in 2025.

Hormel, who previously sat on the board of directors for the National Association of Realtors, said folks trying to analyze the market should not put too much stock in a lower median price.

“The price reduction doesn’t mean the market is going down,” he said. “It just means that the seller missed the mark on their pricing, because people are not going to overpay if they have choices.”

And those choices keep coming.

Wendland, of Coeur d’Alene, said his listing area, which includes several surrounding counties, has about 1,300 units for sale.

“Right after COVID, we had 179. So, a normal market would have about 2,000 listings,” he said. “Sellers who have their properties overpriced are not selling. If they want to sell, they need to drop their prices.”

The most recent data from Spokane showed that listings for February were up 25% over 2025. With more homes for buyers to choose, the sellers have to make sure they stand out.

Dix relayed the story of a seller who wasn’t motivated to fix a couple issues that needed attention in a home he wanted to list.

“Today’s buyer doesn’t want to buy somebody else’s maintenance issue,” she said. “They want to buy it in perfect shape. Those are two key things in real estate: a compelling price and perfect condition.”

Hormel agrees, saying sellers must put their homes for sale at a price that is beyond “competitive.”

“There’s a difference between a competitive price and a compelling price,” he said.

For example, if a seller lists a home for $415,000 that compares to 10 other area listings for the same price, he qualifies as having a “competitive” price.

“But you need to make it where the buyer comes in and says, ‘There’s a good value here that I can’t pass up,’ ” Hormel said. “You need a compelling price.”

Gone are the days when buyers were lining up for homes and sellers could overlook cosmetic problems, he said.

“If all the homes are listed for $415,000 and you have new granite countertops and new flooring, you are compelling versus competitive,” he said.

“You can’t price your home like the other homes in the neighborhood if your home is not up to par with the competition,” Hormel continued. “The market is calling you out for that.”