GREAT FALLS — With major employers like Janicki Industries setting up shop in Great Falls, local realtors say the question isn't whether the housing market will change — it's whether the city is ready for it.
WATCH: Great Falls is growing — but does it have enough homes to keep up? Local realtors say the city is 630 units short per year for the next decade
The numbers tell a clear story. According to the Great Falls Association of Realtors, the city is already running short.
"We figure we're about 630 units a year short of the need for housing in Great Falls for the next ten years. So that's 6,300 units over ten years," said Jim Dea, President of the Great Falls Association of Realtors.
Great Falls is firmly in a seller's market — homes are selling in roughly 60 days, and inventory sits at just three and a half months. A balanced market requires six months of inventory. The arrival of new industry is expected to put even more pressure on an already strained market.
But realtors say help may already be on the way.
"This week we have 17 different developer groups that are going to be in our community — we have this developer red carpet tour, basically," said Zac Griffin, CEO of the Great Falls Association of Realtors.
That tour is a partnership between GFAR, the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, the Great Falls Development Authority, and local home builders — designed to get developers excited about building in Great Falls. Some are already committed to coming.
For Dea, who has spent his entire career in Great Falls real estate, the moment feels unlike anything he has experienced.
"I've been in real estate for all of my adult life, and I've never lived in a growing community. It's been flat since I got out of high school. So we have to — there's a learning curve that we're going to have to go through," Dea said.
That learning curve is real — but some realtors say the challenge ahead is exactly the kind of challenge Great Falls has been waiting for.
"This is a good first-world problem to have. Housing is going to catch up. And homes are going to get in the ground, and we'll be talking about something else ten years from now or seven years from now," said Josh Lind, President-Elect of the Great Falls Association of Realtors.
The Great Falls Association of Realtors says it will continue working to attract developers and builders to the area as the city prepares for what many are calling a once-in-a-generation growth opportunity.
