LOCAL BUSINESS NEWS: 2013 ‘fabulous’ year for real estate in Canyon County

More than 3,100 homes were sold in Canyon County in 2013, according to data from the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. The average selling price for those homes was $143,192, up from $115,912 in 2012 and $97,402 in 2011. Nearly a third of the homes sold were in south Nampa, followed by about 20 percent in southwest Caldwell.

“We’ve had a long, five-year winter, and so for us in real estate this is our spring, and it’s nice to see so many people be successful within that,” said Tracy Kasper, broker and co-owner of Silverhawk Realty.

Kasper called 2013 a fabulous year for real estate. She said the market significantly recuperated in 2012 and 2013 and she expects a gradual increase in 2014.

Prices aren’t back to where they were at the peak in the mid-2000s, Kasper said, but she added that’s a good thing.

“We’re not rebounding, we are truly recuperating,” she said. “So we are not running into a bubble or anything like that, but we were so low that we had to get those values back up, and that’s what the last two years have done for us to the point now where we can be very gradual in that increase, which is a better way and a smarter way to grow.”

There were several factors that made 2013 a good year for the housing market. Canyon County was hit hard by foreclosures, and for the past five years banks have been the big sellers. But with the recent recuperation, traditional sellers came on the market as prices increased, Kasper said.

Builders were also able to be competitive and build new homes when prices went up, she said.

“That gave us a very well-rounded market, not being so heavy-handed with the banks,” she said.

New home sales in Canyon County were up more than 45 percent in 2013 over 2012 and the highest since 2008, according to Intermountain MLS data. In 2013, 450 newly constructed homes were sold compared to 661 in 2008.

Inventory levels also decreased to just under or just over three months for most price points over the past year, Kasper said, when in years past inventory was as high as 18 months.

Kasper encourages interested buyers to get pre-qualified and start looking to enjoy the low interest rates, which are expected to increase slightly this year.

In Ada County, the average home price was up about 15 percent to $233,538 in 2013, and total sales were up 14 percent over 2012.

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