'Outrageous' demand, 'not much' supply

COEUR d’ALENE — There are areas in Idaho where houses are selling without buyers even seeing them in person.

There are areas where offers are made without even requiring an inspection.

There are areas where offers on homes include nonrefundable deposits.

Kootenai County is one of those areas.

“That’s very much the case,” said Josh Suhr, president of the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors. “We’re in the same boat with all that. We’re seeing all those.”

It’s a time of “outrageous” demand and “not much” supply.

Joel Pearl, owner of Pearl Realty, said multiple offers are being made on some homes as soon as they are on listed.

And the real estate market shows no sign of cooling off.

“It’s just incredible,” Pearl said.

Suhr said he spoke to one woman who had made eight offers on local homes and none were accepted.

He said there are cash offers being made without the deal hinging on the house passing an inspection. And some buyers are taking virtual tours of homes and making offers from thousands of miles away.

Cash offers are becoming routine, as they generally are more appealing than financed offers. And for those financing homes, they are often offering over the asking price.

The seller’s market, which this is, used to be anything under the $600,000 range. Now, the seller’s market includes homes over $1 million.

There used to be months' worth of housing inventory in Kootenai County.

Now, it’s weeks.

The Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors, as of Oct. 8, had just 438 current active residential listings.

According to a housing snapshot from the Association of Realtors, the median home price in Kootenai County in September, from one year ago, was up 13.5% to $346,271.

According to the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service, the average sales price of a Kootenai County home on less than two acres rose 14% to $388,695 through September.

Residential sales volume in Kootenai County through September rose 21% to $1.1 billion, up from $893,168 million for the same time last year. The total number of sales so far in 2020 for the first nine months of the year, for homes on than two acres, per the MLS, was 2,712, up 4% from the same time frame last year.

The MLS reported that the sold volume through September of vacant land properties — including waterfront and properties of more than 10 acres — totaled $273,095 million, nearly double the $156,910 million for 2019.

“Strong buyer activity has continued into the fall, which is normally the start of the seasonal slowing of the housing market,” according to a September report from the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors. “With stronger buyer activity in the market this year and the continued constrained supply of homes for sale, speedy sales and multiple offers are likely to remain a common occurrence and will keep the housing market hot even when the weather is cooling.”

Builders can’t keep up with demand.

According to the September report, new listings decreased 52% percent for new construction homes but increased 8.4% for previously owned homes. Pending sales increased 47% for new construction homes and 41% for previously owned homes. Inventory decreased 74% for new construction homes and 50.5% for previously owned homes.

Historically low interest rates — under 3% for a 30-year mortgage — are also fueling the frenzy.

Chad Oakland, a real estate agent with Northwest Realty Group, met Friday with clients to develop a marketing plan for their property at Radiant Lake in Rathdrum.

What’s unusual about that?

There’s hardly anything for sale there.

“We are seeing a huge lack of inventory,” Oakland said. “In 28 years I’ve never seen a market like this.”

Oakland said his office receives daily calls from people looking to move here, with many from California, Washington and Texas. The largest influx is from Western Washington.

He said people are making escalation offers with no ceiling, meaning they will beat whatever offer might come in.

Downtown Coeur d’Alene remains an area in high demand. Oakland has a listing of a new, 2,925-square-foot home under construction at 17th and Mullan Avenue in Coeur d’Alene scheduled to be finished in late February. It didn’t last long once it hit the market.

“I sold it in three hours,” he said.

Still, he said he has the fewest listings he has ever had due to the reduced inventory and called the market, “just crazy.”

“The problem is not selling the house,” he said.

He said the problem is also not just limited to buying a house, but renting one.

“You can’t find a rental,” he said.

So why is Kootenai County so hot?

The coronavirus, the more restrictive lockdowns in other parts of the country, and the rise of working at home, is partly responsible.

Suhr said the ability of people to work remotely has opened North Idaho to the world. While geography once tied people to where they worked, that’s no longer the case.

Businesses have found they can successfully operate with employees carrying out their duties from their living room.

Pearl said COVID created an environmental shift, with people wanting to get out of higher density areas.

He agreed that the increasing ability to work at home is making it more appealing for people to move to North Idaho, despite its long, cold, wet winters.

It’s not just California and Seattle from where they are coming, but nationwide.

"They’re flooding from all over the country, all over the world,” Suhr said.

North Idaho is in the right place at the right time. It has stunning scenery, ski resorts and endless outdoor opportunities with mountains, lakes and rivers. It has proximity to the Spokane Airport, a strong economy and thriving arts.

“North Idaho checks a lot of boxes,” Suhr said. “There’s a lot to be said for it.”

And it didn't go into the tightly enforced and regulated government-ordered lockdown for the coronavirus as other states.

“Idaho real estate was deemed essential, which was huge for the industry,” Suhr said.

And despite the rising home prices, it’s affordable to those from areas like Seattle and California, which have higher costs of living.

“They can take a San Francisco salary and bring it out here,” Oakland said. “Its goes a lot further up here.”

Several Bay Area attorneys are looking to move here.


“They can come here and live a better quality of life,” Oakland said.

Fewer homes for sale, combined with many owners reluctant to put their homes on the market because they don’t have anywhere to go, has put buyers in a bind.

It's no one's fault.

“I think people just want to live here,” Oakland said.

He added that there could be something that cools off this red-hot real estate market: Two bad winters in a row. That usually has new arrivals saying "enough" and begin to search for sunny skies.