Missoula Home Prices Remain High, but Sales Cool

The price of home ownership remains high in Missoula, although without the dramatic increase in median home price that occurred after the pandemic.

Even so, that benchmark remains well above half a million dollars, even after annual home sales dropped by several hundred units in 2023.

Those are some of the major takeaways from the Missoula Organization of REALTORS® "Five Valleys Housing Report", the important annual summary of Missoula real estate trends.

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Median home price goes up, but by less

MOR analysts say the median home price in Missoula was at $550,000 at the end of 2023, an increase from the $505,000 median price in 2022. That's a jump, but nowhere near the dramatic spike between the $347,000 in 2020, and $447,000 media price in 2021.

MOR also included "lease lot" manufactured ownership in the median price calculation for the first time, which drops the median total to $530,000.

That's far above the "affordability threshold" of $305,000, based on a median income of $100,900 a year, far above the $59,783 median income identified by the U.S. Census Bureau for 2018-2022. Only 252 selected sales were below that threshold, for 12.3%, while more than 87% of those sales were above that mark.

The market has cooled

Overall, MOR shows sales of 1023 units this past year, down from the 2020 high water mark of 1736 units. Condos and townhomes are showing some of the sharpest declines, although single-family residences in all price ranges reflect the cooling of the once-hot housing market.

While conventional financing continues to represent the majority of all sales, with over 55%, a surprising 32% of the 2023 sales involved cash. Home sales have stayed close to asking price.

Lot sales were also just half of what they were in 2020.

READ MORE: Where Montana Property Taxes Rank Nationwide

Supply of homes on the market improving

Another key metric for realtors is the "supply" of homes on the market, or how many weeks or months are available to meet demand.

In 2010, coming out of the Great Recession, that number hit over 28 months. In the hot market of '21, that dropped to less than a month. And while the rate has continued to be lower than the "normal market range", it did climb back above the 3-month threshold of a "normal" market toward the end of 2023, topping 4 months.