Kalispell Market Report: Land – October 2020

Kalispell Market Report: Land – October 2020

This report covers the residential land market (active listings and sales) in Kalispell Montana as of the end of October 2020. Similar to the housing market, land sales have been very strong.

Inventory

As of early November, there were 119 residential land parcels for sale in the Kalispell area, which is a 10% decrease from the previous month.

Of the land currently for sale, 59 listings include five or more acres. While most of the land in Montana could be considered rural, I define rural as those properties in the 5+ acre category. Those are most likely to be parcels located on a gravel mountain road, or adjacent to National Forest or lumber parcels. They are often not located in a development, but by themselves, and provide privacy and multiple building and use options.

This month, the active properties over five acres range in price from $99,000 to $5.9M with an average price point of $879K. The listing at the lowest end of the price spectrum is a 20 acre parcel at 4,800 feet in elevation with views of Flathead Valley and Glacier Park. Access is via a gravel road with various options for building sites. The highest priced property is 359 acres of property that has been farmed for years, but could provide development or investment options. There is a possibility for a 700 home development on the site.

As you can see, price per acre can vary dramatically from listing to listing. The 20 acre parcel is less than $5,000 per acre while the 359 acre plot is more than $16,000 per acre.

In terms of the listings below five acres, many are located in developments. These parcels range in size from .12 of an acre to 4.6 acres and in price from $59,900 to $515,000 with an average price of $130,054. Many of these come with monthly or annual HOA fees. They are also often covered by CCRs or Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions which define rules for building and living in that area.

The bottom line with land in Kalispell, Montana – every piece is unique, with different requirements, rules, views, utility options, amenities and of course prices. If you want to purchase land, in addition to knowing what you want to spend, you’ll need to know how you want to use it, what kind of amenities you might like, and what kinds of rules you could live with. That will help you and your real estate professional select the right locations and parcel sizes!

Sales Trends

Land listings continue to sell at a very strong rate this year. Three months this year had sales of 36. October added another 27 and so far this year, there have already been almost 20% more land sales than in the entire year of 2019.

Length of Time to Sell

Land listings typically take longer to sell than home sales. The average days on market for land during 2020 has been 7.4 months. Last year, the average for the same time period was 8.6 months. While those numbers do show that land listings are, on average, selling slightly faster, it’s not that big of a difference to move the residential land market to a seller’s market.

As mentioned in last months report, my explanation of the longer timeframe to sell land has to do with the buyer market. There are fewer buyers who want to start from scratch, buying the land and then waiting for a home to be built. And those buyers who ARE interested in doing so have very particular requirements. It sometimes takes them quite a while to find the right parcel that has the right views, is facing in the correct direction, has the right kind of building site, has the required utilities, and so on. Once they do find that perfect parcel, it takes some time to do their due diligence. Can they get appropriate internet and cell service? Are the roads passable in the winter? Who plows them? What might it cost to dig a well or add a septic system? So the estimated 8 months from listing to sales is not unreasonable.

Sales Prices

As mentioned in my last report, average or median sales prices are meaningless when discussing land sales. The qualities of one lot over another are so different as to make most comparisons moot. That being said, I am including a view of the total dollar value of all land sold per month to provide some kind of comparison to the previous year.

As can be seen by the red bars in the chart below, the total value of land sold in 2020 far exceeds 2019. Through the end of October, there has been close to $39M of land sold. The total amount sold last year was less than $25M. So this year is already 56% higher than all of last year. Also of interest, there are currently 45 land parcels under contract with a list price value of more than $15M!

In terms of the lowest and highest prices for a land parcel (not acre), the lowest price parcel in October sold for less than $70K. It was 0.2 of an acre in a subdivision with community water and sewer. At the other end of the price range were 159 acres of land on the east side of Kalispell with multiple options for building and mountain views. That sold right around $1.2M.

The bottom line about prices for land – no matter your budget, you can find options in your price range!

Summary

Every piece of land is unique, even those in a development. Views can be dramatically different just moving from one acre to another. I love walking land with clients! If you are interested in selling or buying land, and you want to work with a boot-wearing broker who is ready to find the borders, call me at 406-270-3667. I’d be happy to help!

To see previous land-related market reports, click here.

See below for current land for sale in the Kalispell area: