Idaho’s housing market is largely stuck in an expensive place, as is the nationwide market, with high interest rates keeping many people from buying and selling.
“We’re all just kind of sitting here frozen in place, waiting for this thing to unthaw,” Idaho Department of Labor Economist Sam Wolkenhauer said.
Wolkenhauer recently provided an overview in a Department of Labor webinar of local and national housing market conditions and how the current boom in housing prices compares to the boom immediately preceding the Great Recession of 2008. Luckily, the conditions this time are different, Wolkenhauer said, and there’s nothing to indicate another dramatic tank in the market in the near future.
Housing prices have skyrocketed in the U.S. and Idaho, with the median listing price of a single-family home in the state sitting at just over $500,000, which is above the national median of around $430,000. Idaho’s average income is lower than the national average, which puts housing out of reach for many residents. Idaho’s median household income was $72,785 in 2022, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.