First Quarter Market Report 2021

First Quarter 2021 Ravalli County Real Estate Market Report

The Bitterroot real estate market continues on a tear but as we'll see in the statistics, things may be cooling off in terms of number of units sold simply because people cannot find anything to buy and those that are currently in a property don't know if they could get a replacement.  Here are the first quarter results as compared to last year.  Rather than go into fine detail across the market, we are looking at just the single family residence and the vacant non-ag, non-recreation land.

On the residential side 121 homes sold in the first quarter 2020 vs. 155 in the first quarter of 2021 for an increase of 28%.  This could be due in part from the fact that places and travel were shut down in the first quarter.  The volume of property sold went from $51.7 million to over $99 million in 2021 for 91% increase and the average property sale went from $427,584 in 2020 to $640K in 2021 for a 50% increase over the first quarter.  Homes were also selling in the first quarter of 2021 for right at 99% of list price.  In my experience, most are going anywhere from 5 to 10% over ask currently.

Land is moving very quickly but builders are hard to get and many are booked out until 2021.  We've also heard the incredible stories about the inflation of building materials.  Currently I am quoting about $250 per square  foot with well costs reaching upwards of $50 a foot to drill.

There were 60 vacant land sales this time last year and 93 this year for a 55% increase and volume went from roughly $8.5 million to approximately $20 million in sales by the end of March of 2021 for a whopping 134%.  The average parcel went from $141,387 to $213,928 for a 51% increase with properties selling at 96% of ask price.

Here is a snap shot detail of how the market is responding.  We can clearly see that inventory is dropping.  At some point the sales will level off because there is nothing to buy and the local buyer will be shut out.  I predict that as we get closer to fall, we'll see some dramatic market changes in terms of volume and number of units sold.  Vacant land takes some time to come to market and I believe we will see that tapper off as well.

Check back here with us at C&C Real Estate Services for more data and research on Bitterroot Valley Real Estate.