No city in America saw larger home price gains in the first half of 2021 than — yes, you guessed it — Boise, Idaho.
According to a study from HouseCanary — which looked at the top 25 metros in the country with the highest median price increase over the last six months — Boise’s home prices increased 13% from December 2020 ($410,000) to June 2021 ($463,383), the highest in the country.
Provo-Orem, Utah, saw the second-highest home price gain since December 2020 at 12.22% ($406,509 to $456,187), followed by Ocala, Florida at 12.1% ($189,639 to $212,592).
Boise also saw the largest median home price change by dollar amount at $53,283.
Daniel Roccato, a financial expert at Credible.com, noted Boise’s relatively cheaper cost of living — especially compared to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, where many new Idahoians hail from — as the main factor in the city’s price increase.
“Americans have shown a willingness to pack up the minivan and relocate when it comes to improving their financial lives,” Roccato said. “Communities with no income tax and lower housing costs are winning the battle for talent as more workers are able to work remotely. Not only is this driving up home prices in these areas but there will be long-lasting economic and political changes as well.”
In 2018, Forbes ranked Boise No. 1 on its list of America’s Fastest Growing Cities, and by December 2020, the city had only 0.3 months worth of homes for sale, according to Keller Williams Realty Boise. In Ada County specifically, where Boise is located, the number of homes for sale dropped from 1,697 in October 2019 October to just 355 in October 2020 — a 79% decline.
Notably, in 2011, existing home prices in Ada County were at $160,113. By late 2020, median existing home prices had hit $410,000.
“Buyer demand for homes has remained strong as more Americans worked from home [during the COVID-19 pandemic] or saw new possibilities for their lives, causing an ultra-competitive market environment with more buyers vying for fewer homes on the market,” said Chris Stroud, HouseCanary co-founder and chief of research.
Other cities reporting high price increases from December 2020 include Modesto, California (+10.92%), Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida (+10.31%), Atlantic City-Hammonton, New Jersey (+9.51%), Phoenix (+9.43%), Spokane, Washington (+8.73%), Las Vegas (+8.68%), Orlando-Sanford, Florida (+8.15%), and Lebanon, New Hampshire (+8.04%).
All but two of the metros listed in the top 25 study released by HouseCanary are in the Southern or Western U.S. The three metros with the highest median home prices are, unsurprisingly, all in California — Sacramento ($540,983), Stockton ($496,403), and Riverside ($474,390).
Of the six California metros listed, all are listed in either Inland Empire or the Central Valley.
Ten Florida metros were ranked in the top 25.
