Home construction hot, sales cool off

New construction in Whitefish is heating up with summer.

For the first six months of the year, 87 permits have been filed for new construction, remodels or additions within city limits.

Nine permits for new single-family homes and nine permits for commercial and residential remodels were filed in June alone. New home construction ranged from a $100,000 project on West Third Street, to a $4.1 million project in Iron Horse.

May saw permits in the city for six new single-family homes, and six new townhouses or multi-family residences.

In all of 2013, the city recorded 75 building permits for single-family homes. There were 51 permits in 2012, a number that had been the high for the previous six years.

Planning Director Dave Taylor says that the valuation of permits from fiscal year 2014 approached the city’s banner year of 2006.

He expects more permits to roll in through the fall with August and September often being the busiest months for new construction.

While new construction is hot, real estate sales in Whitefish have cooled off in the first six months of 2014 compared to last year.

According to a report from Kelley Appraisal of Kalispell, sales in Whitefish and 3.5 miles outside of city limits are down 19 percent compared to the first half of last year. So far, 118 homes have sold compared to 146 in 2013.

Jim Kelley, of Kelley Appraisal, chalks up the dip in sales to simple supply and demand. He calls it a “stabilization of the market.”

“The biggest thing is that the bargain deals are gone,” he said, noting that bank-owned and short sales are both down compared to last year.

He also said sellers are attempting to hold tighter to their asking prices in Whitefish, which might be too high for the market.

“They want more out of their properties, but the market doesn’t support the asking prices,” he said.

“You can’t ask whatever you want and expect to get it.”

Still, the median price of homes sold in Whitefish is at its highest point since 2008, up nearly 9 percent compared to the first half of last year at $265,000.

“What is selling is selling at higher price,” Kelley said.

The median price in Whitefish bottomed out in 2009 at $194,000 and peaked in 2007 at $328,500.

Kelley points to the median price of homes sold in the Flathead compared to the affordability index. The median home price in the county in the first half of 2014 was $213,900. This falls in line with the historic affordability trend, which signals that homes prices in the county are still affordable, Kelley said.

Three homes have sold on Whitefish Lake in the first half of the year at a median price of $1.4 million.