Total home sales increased in Idaho’s two largest counties during the past year, but the overall median home price in Ada County still remains $110,000 higher than homes listed in neighboring Canyon County.
The median home price for resale and homes considered new construction in Ada County fell to $525,000, a $5,000 decline from November of last year to November 2024, even as home prices in Canyon County shot up a whopping $16,000 during the same time period to $415,000, according to figures provided by the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service.
Despite the sizable increase in prices for real estate in the western part of the Treasure Valley, and with new homes accounting for 48% of all home sales in that region, overall home prices in Canyon County still remain significantly lower than homes priced on the market in Ada County.
“There was a large share of new home sales under $500,000 in Kuna, Star, and Meridian as buyers took advantage of builder incentives and promotions offered this fall, many of which closed in November,” said Andrea Anderson, a local agent with The Agency Boise. “While new homes typically cost more due to the costs of land, labor, and materials, these sales highlight the demand for homes in this price range and buyers clearly found value in these builder incentives.”
Considering the statistical fluctuations and significant difference in median prices, both counties experienced an upswing in the number of home sold during the past year. In Ada County, home sales totaled 660, a 25% jump over November of last year, while 390 homes were sold during the same timeframe in Canyon County, an increase of 34%.
Single-family home prices in both counties also vary between properties listed as “existing” or resale homes, and those deemed new construction. In both categories, original listing prices, due to either price adjustments or negotiations, dropped slightly during the past year in both areas of the valley.
Similarly, Ada County homebuyers secured properties at an average of 97% of the original list price, a 2% decline from the first quarter of the year. In Canyon County, that figure dropped from a peak of 98.2% in April of this year, to 96.5%, a difference of 1.7%.
“The percent of original list price received metric tells us a few things,” Anderson said. “It indicates that sellers may be more open to negotiation and that the list price you see online or in listing alerts isn’t always what the home ends up selling for.”
The “season” or time of the year in which a home is listed on the market may also contribute to a reduction in the original price listing. “We tend to see this metric decline more in the winter months when there is less competition in the market,” she said.