Buyers' market continues

COEUR d'ALENE - Single-family home sales in Kootenai County continue to run well above last year, while prices remain down halfway through 2010.

According to the latest report from the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Association, 894 single-family homes have sold in Kootenai County through June, up 36 percent over 2009, while the average price fell to $180,864, down 8 percent.

One highlight: three homes in June sold for more than $1 million.

"Price reductions are rampant but not extremely steep," wrote Pete Faust, Realtor with Century 21 Beutler and Associates.

The number of homes for sale reached 4,416 in June, the MLS reported, up a whopping 94 percent from June 2009, and up 4.2 percent from May.

Faust noted that newly pending sales were running about 10-15 per day, while listings were coming on at 50-70 per day.

For Coeur d'Alene and Dalton Gardens, home sales were up 48 percent to 387, while the average price was down 4 percent to $179,293.

In Post Falls, single-family home sales were up 23 percent to 286 through the first six months of the year, while the average price was down 2 percent to $176,164.

Hayden home sales were up 58 percent to 139, while the average price down 19 percent to $204,177, and in Rathdrum/Twin Lakes, sales were up 9 percent to 58 by the end of June, while the average price was down 20 percent to $151, 281.

Overall in June, 68 percent of all residential sales were sold at less than $200,000. The average sales price of a single-family listing, with three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, was $162,530 with average of 99 days on market.