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Positive signs surface for real estate

By Dani Grigg

Spring has hit the Treasure Valley real estate market, and home sales are starting to climb.

According to numbers from the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service, in Ada and Canyon counties the number of sales climbed 43.8 percent between February and March, from a total of 363 homes sold to 522.

That number is still down 20.8 percent from the 659 homes sold the previous March but represents a positive change from sales that have been slipping almost every month since June 2008.

Treasure Valley new home sales rose more than existing home sales between February and March, up 58.1 percent compared to 40.4 percent.

Ronda Conger, vice president of Meridian-based CBH Homes, said she thinks the market is turning around. CBH sold 75 homes in March, she said.

“Some people in the valley would say we hit bottom in January as a whole,” she said. With declining inventory, low interest rates, low home prices and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, “we just really look at this as an opportunity to seize the moment.”

CBH is hiring 20 sales associates for the spring selling season and expanding service hours at its five offices in the Treasure Valley. The company hopes to find all 20 new hires at a four-hour job fair on April 16. The job fair will be executed in a “speed-dating” format. For details, go to www.cbhhomes.com.

- Source: Idaho Business Review April 2009

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