Realtors report challenges to home affordability in Missoula

Home and rental prices in Missoula have surged in recent years, driven by low supply and high demand. This year’s housing report from the Missoula Organization of Realtors shows a slight improvement in home affordability, but there's more to the story.

Home affordability for Missoula residents improved marginally over the last year, but that wasn’t driven by lower prices.

Realtor Brint Wahlberg said wage increases over the last year may have helped some Missoulians with a down payment.

“Challenges remain,” Wahlberg told MTPR. “We’re seeing a couple signs of some returned hope at some spots, but it shows that we’re not seeing some fast fixes, here.”

Among those hopeful signs is the addition of more than 400 new units reserved for low-income renters.

Montana News

Driven By Low Supply, Missoula Housing Prices Continue To Grow

Edward F. O'Brien

Listen • 5:37

For the first time in five years, the supply of homes hitting the market recently tipped into a range the organization considers “normal.”

But, there’s a catch. Wahlberg said most of the excess supply is for homes priced $750,000 or more. The organization said about one-third of homebuyers last year paid cash, more than any year since it began tracking. And, two-thirds of real estate inquiries last year came from out-of-state buyers.

Meanwhile, residential permitting for new construction in Missoula declined for the second straight year. Wahlberg said it will be several years before data indicate whether or not a slate of housing policies passed by state lawmakers in 2023 will make a dent in the city’s red-hot market.