Twin Falls Housing Prices Aren’t Falling Soon

Twin Falls needs more houses.  And rental units.  The high cost for housing is caused by a shortage.  This is the opposite of what happened leading up to the Great Recession.  Back then, there were too many houses.  In neighboring Boise, the price of some homes has doubled in a few short years.  While we haven’t quite had the same shock, the skyrocketing costs are also impacting the Magic Valley.

The New York Times explains as Californians and other coastal refugees flee high living expenses along the Pacific Ocean, the result is some of the same housing issues crop up here.

Twin Falls City Councilwoman Ruth Pierce explains the newcomers are flush with cash by Idaho standards.  When they arrive here, they actually see prices far below their last experience.  She appeared on Magic Valley This Morning on Newsradio 1310 KLIX.  Pierce says the new buyers often can immediately pay cash and still bank some of the money they made on the sale of their previous home.  The Councilwoman also tells us many homes locally are now selling within 24 hours of a listing.  A year ago it wasn’t much better.  The average before the pandemic was four days on the market.

There are a few other factors.  The impact of the pandemic was short lived in Southern Idaho.  The economy continues to cook.  Which means you often have a shortage of construction workers and lumber is sometimes in limited supply.  The latter two shortages also drive costs higher.

The bubble could persist for quite some time.  The most basic explanation is while costs are historically high from a local perspective, for many outside buyers it’s a bargain compared to their old community and the quality of life here remains attractive.