The Missoula Association of Realtors released their 2020 housing report this week, and the median price of a home in Missoula has increased dramatically.

Spokesman Brint Wahlberg, a local realtor himself, provided the information from this year’s report.

“The year finished with a new high median sales price of $315,000,” said Wahlberg. “That represents an 8.6 percent increase which is the highest annual increase that we’ve ever seen in a one year span. What has led to that has been the same story that we’ve been talking about for years. Lack of supply, overbidding, overbidding over the asking price and competitive situations due to very limited options with people that want to buy homes.”

Wahlberg said that 2020 may hold a similar result.

“Just what does 2020 hold, especially in this current pandemic?” he asked. “We have started to look at some initial numbers where we’re tracking supply, we’re tracking new listings coming onto the market, and we’re tracking time on market, and so far we’ve seen some interesting numbers. Supply has slightly improved, but it’s still in a pretty heavy under-supply, in most of our affordable price ranges, if you will.”

Wahlberg said the pandemic has affected all aspects of the economy, real estate included.

“New listings have been cut by about a third, but that’s been through the stay-at-home order,” he said. “That’s probably not a surprise and this is something we’re going to be tracking moving forward, because as Montana opens up will new listing activity return to where it was, or will it meet in the middle, or will it stay on its current track? If we continue to have a lack of supply, the people who want to purchase homes will continue to see that median price continue to climb.”

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