Seattle boom can help
According to an article published by Forbes.com, Seattle was listed as one of the top 10 markets this year for construction. Forbes.com compiled its list of "Building Boom Towns" using statistics from Dodge Data Analytics to find the places where the most money has been spent on new construction from the start of 2014 through September. Construction included single-family home construction as well as multifamily, office space, retail space, warehouses, and other commercial spaces.
Historically, what happens in Seattle eventually makes its way here after beginning in Cali-fornia's Bay area. On the Forbes list San Francisco dropped to No. 14 and San Jose 16th in new construction this year. Both cities show a loss from the previous year. Those declines could indicate that development is moving north which typifies the real estate "roll." The real estate feeding frenzy that hit here in 2004 and continued through 2007 actually had its beginnings in California. As prices increased there, prices began to rise along the I-5 corridor and then east, eventually bringing rapid escalation in prices and scarcity of inventory to our market.
Stricter lending requirements are likely to prevent another insane housing boom, but we continue to see solid activity locally as reported last week. Our commercial market sector continues its long-anticipated improvement as well. With a strong demand for rental properties, multi-family housing provides an attractive opportunity. Our sales of multi-family properties so far this year are double that of 2013 in dollar volume although the number of sales is nearly the same.
Sales of businesses with buildings and land topped our commercial activity though, at more than quadruple the dollars invested last year by the end of October. The number of individual sales reported to the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service for that particular type of property were not quite double the previous year.
Commercial buildings with their own land continue to gain traction in North Idaho, increasing modestly, both in number and dollar volume, but consistently since 2012. The development seen in Seattle can ultimately play a role in our own activity as businesses and the folks who work for them get priced out of an active market and head east for better values. Not only do commercial developers benefit but the housing market will continue to grow as the job market improves.
For now, we are pleased to report that our strengthening real estate market has added about $98,000,000 to last year's production for an overall gain of 13 percent when compared to 2013 at the end of October.
All in all we see the Forbes.com listing of Seattle as one of the top construction markets as a good thing for North Idaho. We will keep you posted.
Trust an expert...call a Realtor. Call your Realtor or visit www.cdarealtors.com to search properties on the Multiple Listing Service or to find a Realtor member who will represent your best interests.
Kim Cooper is a real estate broker and the spokesman for the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors. Kim and the association invite your feedback and input for this column. You may contact them by writing to the Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors, 409 W. Neider, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815 or by calling (208) 667-0664.