The annual housing report from the Missoula Organization of Realtors depicted a mixed bag of results for 2024. Missoula mortgage lender Matt Gehr summarized it this way.
“We do have an affordability issue, but it’s not continuing to get worse.”
The median price of a home in Missoula climbed 2% last year — by far the smallest increase since the pandemic boom. That, combined with a slight increase in total home sales, led the realty group to conclude the market could be returning to “traditional norms.”
However, realtors found the end of federal pandemic stimulus hurt household incomes last year, which drove down housing affordability.
Realtors say a lack of housing supply is also fueling the affordability challenge. The Missoula area hasn’t maintained a healthy number of homes on the market for nearly a decade, according to realtor data.
Average rents also climbed in 2024, while the number of vacant rental units started in the healthy range but fell through the year.
Realtors say they’re optimistic the city of Missoula’s new land use plan and upcoming zoning changes may help ease the city’s housing crunch.
