Montana Home Values Staying Afloat

(Scott Rickard, Center for Applied Economic Research, MSU Billings)

At a recent economic outlook seminar, a large audience in Kalispell was treated to presentations by leading economic researchers. Topics ranged from transportation and agriculture to tourism and real estate.



One statistic shared from the real estate presentation caught me by surprise and I thought it was worth sharing. I've posted the graph here of home values for the state of Montana for the past 5 years. While the downturn in the market has significantly hampered value increases down to 2.5% for 2008, they have still not gone negative.


Perhaps by now (heading into Q2 of 2009) the numbers have continued to plummet and we are on the negative side, but this is still more positive data than I would have expected. Another caveat to the data is that it is statewide, taking into account several smaller communities that have not seen the dramatic increase and subsequent decrease in home values over the past several years.

Do You Feel Stimulated?

President Obama signed his historic 'spendulus' package into law yesterday in an effort to jump start an ailing economy. I had the unique opportunity to meet with one of our Senators - Jon Tester in Kalispell on the same day - ironically just a few hours before the signing ceremony took place in Denver.

It was not a private meeting by any means - I doubt he will remember my name, but I hope he will remember my few words in our brief conversation.

He had scheduled an invitation only meeting in Kalispell with select business and community leaders. News of the meeting had leaked to the Daily Interlake the day before - once it was plastered on the front page, it had to become a semi-public meeting. Only 30-40 people could squeeze into the Chamber meeting room, and about 20 or so had been invited. I was not on the invite list and crashed the party. My takeaway was our Senator coming home to the local market to display the spoils of his efforts in DC - and for local supporters to line up for handouts.

My few words with the Senator after the meeting were just a polite request to do all he could to make sure this unprecedented spending was as stimulative as possible and not just a politically driven 'money-grab' for those who are lined up at the trough.

The only silver lining I can hope for is that the continued negative impact these developments have on the stock market will drive more investors to choose real estate as a secure, long-term investment that they can enjoy over the years.

Waterfront Market Report - February 2009

Welcome to the February issue of the Waterfront Market Report! This is a monthly electronic publication designed specifically to communicate Flathead Lake Waterfront real estate data to select clients.

My goal is to provide concise and practical information to individuals with an interest in the local real estate market.

If you have questions at any time, please feel free to Email or call.

Best Regards,
David

Active Flathead Lake Waterfront Listings

The data above represents all Flathead Lake frontage land and residential listings and excludes condominiums and townhomes.
(Source: NMAR)




Analysis
The present market for Flathead Lake Waterfront real estate continues to look grim. There were no sales of land or residential waterfront listings for the month of January.

Buyers are continuing to wait out the current retracting market trend to ensure they enter the market at the bottom, or once recovery has begun.


2008 Sold Data
Frontage Value/Linear Foot

High
$ 13,696
Low
$ 2,436
Average
$ 7,001