From The Daily InterLake.com in Montana
There’s no doubt that selling real estate in the Flathead Valley has been a challenge this year, but Cal Scott sees a glimmer of hope in the September sales statistics compiled by the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors.
“It looks like we may be coming out of” the worst of the economic slowdown, said Scott, who just completed his term as president of the association. “This September is on par and in some areas better than September 2007.”
People who study the local real-estate market, Scott said, “know that the big bounce of the pingpong ball is over.” The bouncing will slow until the market settles back down, probably sometime by mid-2009, he speculated.
Bigfork and Kalispell are bright spots in the current real-estate spectrum, at least according to September figures.
In Bigfork, total sales for September this year were up, both in dollars and number of units sold. Residential real-estate sales totaled $12.3 million last month, up $6.7 million from last year’s September sales of $5.5 million. Fifteen dwellings were sold last month in the Bigfork area, compared to eight last September.
Land sales were up by $732,000 for the month.
The Lakeside-Somers area also did well in September, up about $3.3 million in residential sales over last September.
While Realtors sold more homes in Kalispell during September - 51 dwellings compared to 42 dwellings sold in September 2007 - the value of the real estate sold dropped by nearly $1 million.
Statistics are merely a snapshot in time, Bigfork Realtor Bill Leininger cautioned, pointing to a $6 million home sold on Swan Lake that influenced Bigfork real-estate numbers. But that said, real estate is selling, he said.
“There are so many opportunities,” he said. “There’s a surplus of inventory and it’s a great time to buy.”
Scott, who has been through five significant market fluctuations during his long career in real estate, said he believes there’s a “pent-up demand” for Flathead real estate, regardless of the economy.
“Next spring this pent-up demand will take off with a vengeance,” Scott predicted. “We’re poised, that if buyers haven’t lost a great deal of their 401(k) and have a steady job, there are low interest rates and some phenomenal [financing] programs here.”
Buyers often overlook assistance that’s available from agencies such as Rural Development, the Montana Board of Housing, Glacier Affordable Housing, the Federal Housing Authority and Veterans Administration, he said.
ENCOURAGING September statistics by themselves can’t ward off an economic slump that has dropped home valuations here by about 8 to 10 percent.
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