Source: Daily Interlake —
It’s no secret that real estate in the Flathead Valley has been booming for the past several years, but a change in the market may be ahead.
Many factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to urban flight that saw buyers purchasing properties unseen and paying cash for much higher than the original listing price. The feeding frenzy has caused housing prices to skyrocket, but local realtors and mortgage brokers believe price drops are on the horizon.
“The median home price in Kalispell is at $525,000, which is down from what it was a couple of months ago when it was in the six hundreds,” says Erica Wirtala, Public Affairs Director for Northwest Montana Realtors Association. “I think Whitefish has fallen a bit, they were at a median home price of over a million. Now they’re at about $840,000 — and that’s for a two bedroom two bath – that’s just your average median house.”
Data from home sales over the past three years paints a dramatic picture of rising housing costs in the valley. According to Montana Regional MLS, the median sale price for a home in Columbia Falls in June of 2020 was $289,000, which peaked in May of 2022 at $751,000.
