Realtor.com recently released its 2020 third quarter Cross-Market Demand report, and it shows an increased interest in Idaho and the Treasure Valley from people living in other states.
Two-thirds of those looking for properties in the Gem State’s Treasure Valley, and Ada County specifically, were from outside of Idaho. That’s a 33% increase over the same time the previous year.
Not surprisingly, six out of the top ten viewing counties were from California, with Los Angeles and Orange County accounting for just over 14% of the activity. Our neighbors to the east, Salt Lake County in Utah, were responsible for 4% of our area searches. In Washington, King County, home of Seattle, also accounted for 4% of the Treasure Valley’s property views. Three northern California counties also accounted for about 10% of the search traffic. Those counties included Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and Sacramento County.
Interestingly, according to the report, Essex County in New Jersey also showed a lot of interest in our region as they cracked the top ten with nearly 3% of the search views.
We can also see the specific metro areas looking for homes in our state on a more granular level. For instance, the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim areas accounted for 14% of the traffic, which is in line with the nearly 14% seen in the county search activity detailed above. Sacramento and the San Francisco areas each checked in with 7.8% of the searches being from their locales.
When looking at Canyon County, most real estate interest is also coming from out of state; however, Ada County residents account for a quarter of the home search traffic for the area. In contrast, Canyon County only accounts for 3% of the search traffic for Ada County.
The report reinforces the idea that people are fleeing larger populated areas en masse to less dense and lower populated areas such as Boise. As a result of the demand, the bad news is that home prices will continue to rise as the number of available homes for sale is dwindling. The good news is that if you happen to want to sell your home, a fantastic opportunity exists to get top dollar for it.
Photo Credit: iStock.com/Ridofranz