Missoula housing supply climbs, more homes to choose from in 6 neighborhoods
You'll still have to do a lot of looking to find a home in Missoula. And you'll be paying more than a year ago.
But the Missoula Organization of REALTORS says six neighborhoods now have a "normal" supply of homes for sale, which is a significant change since last spring.
The latest information compiled by MOR shows those neighborhoods, which include Upper Miller Creek, Big Flat-Blue Mountain, Sxwtpqyen-Mullan, Turah-Clinton, Lower Rattlesnake, and Downtown all had 3-months worth of homes on the market.
Brint Wahlberg with MOR says that's enough for a "normal" market.
"What's fascinating is when we did the housing report just six months ago, I think we only had two or three that were in normal supply. And now we've got six," Wahlberg notes. "And if you look at the report we actually have one that is oversupplied at ten months. And so what that means is these neighborhoods. some of these certain areas around town, surprisingly though, some kind of interesting ones like the Lower Rattlesnake, having basically a balanced amount of availability versus its current demand."
That "oversupplied" neighborhood is Riverfront
It could take 10 months for a home in Riverfront to change hands.
Wahlberg says the more available supply of homes means buyers have more ability to negotiate prices, instead of the "feeding frenzy" of a year ago. As long as they can cope with the higher interest rates…
"There's some relief in terms of buyers," Wahlberg observes. "You're able to negotiate when you start seeing these more normal supply range. You're not one of 10 offers. You're not having to do escalation clauses as much. You're able to negotiate repairs. Basically, the balance of power is kind of neutralized again in many situations."
Even so, you'll still pay more than Missoula's median house price in three of those neighborhoods, with Lower Rattlesnake, Big Flat-Blue Mountain, and Upper Miller Creek with median home prices remaining over $700,000, even with more homes on the market.