BOZEMAN — The cost of living has gone up over the last decade across Gallatin County, which is not new news.
That includes average home values, many increasing by the tens of thousands of dollars.
Finding “For Sale” signs across Bozeman and the rest of the county is becoming too easy.
That goes for condos, too.
But as the Gallatin Valley Real Estate Update for this year points out, even with this supply, demand isn’t slowing down.
“Ten people move to Bozeman every day. 10 people," says Courtney Foster with Referred Realty Group in Bozeman.
Moving to Bozeman requires finding a house to live in.
You might need a realtor for that, like Courtney Foster.
And for some living in the valley, growth is almost becoming a bad word.
“There’s definitely a lot of people that would argue that it’s not healthy, right, because that average sales number, it’s too high for two average income people that live together in this town," Foster says.
Foster says a recent hike in the bar graphs and dotted lines, well, it’s Steady Eddy staying steady.
“It used to be that every month when I would run those reports, I would see that the new listings that came on the market, so let’s say that we had 50 new listings come on the market, we would have 48 or 49 sales that month.”
The Gallatin Association of Realtors recently released this year’s numbers -- breaking down median home prices and more across Bozeman, Belgrade, Three Forks and Big Sky.
When you look at those numbers, it’s hard to miss the increases, just like the number of “For Sale” signs when you’re out on the town.
“It was $425,000 and now it went up to $465,000, so far, year-to-date," Foster says.
Within Bozeman’s city limits alone, the report shows that the average sales prices of a single familiy home, as Courtney pointed out, is about $465,000.
Same goes for condos and townhomes; the median sales prices runs at about $317,000 up from $300,000 in 2019.
But looking at new condo listings, there are 14 percent more new condos out there than last year.
“Not all of these homes sit vacant because people don’t want them, right, and that’s the sign of a town that’s dying," Foster says. "If you had to choose healthy growth, meaning the market keeps going and there are increases and homes keep selling or you had to choose nobody wants to be here, all of the stores are shuttered.”
So with finding a home here, Foster says it might take being a bit creative.
Realtors can help.
“Keep your chin up," Foster says. "There’s a place for everybody.”
The report includes more details from across those four cities, to number of homes for sale over the last three years to the average of days each home stays on the market.
