Housing market gets stronger

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - The housing market faced one of the biggest selling markets in history last year, and this year began the road to recovery.

Even in our local neighborhoods, it was quite the record breaking year for 2022.

"Within our area, what we've seen in 2017, the average home sold was $199,000. So this year, so far, year to date, it's $419,000. So I think that's really interesting for people that have owned their home since, you know, before 2020. You have a significant amount of equity in your home, which gives you awesome buying power for upgrading your home."

With so many choices on the table, buyers finally took action leading to a better market this year.

"The housing market right now is getting stronger. So we did have a decrease last year where we saw obviously a lot more come on the market. There was more availability for buyers. Now that's tightening a little bit."

The tightening may be due to some increased interest rates.

"Interest rates are always going to fluctuate. I mean, interest rates are higher than what we've seen in previous years. But the overall average, you know, around seven, six or 7% is pretty normal. But we got really spoiled with low interest rates."

Realtors believe these rates have contributed to another seller market for this year.

In fact, we have been in a selling market since 2016.

Realtors still like the momentum for the market into the future.

"Overall, year to date, we're down to 15%. So home sales are coming back and we are catching back up to last year, which is hard to compare year over year because last year was a record year. So when you compare that same number 2 to 3 years ago, we're probably right, we're right in line."