Valley home sales set record

• Boise had 4,131 residential sales last year, up from 3,487 in 2003. Home starts, however, fell to 624 from 836 the previous year, reflecting an increasing scarcity of available land for development."I don't see a letup in the housing numbers," said R. Gail Heist, principal with Professional Real Estate Services. "The builders I talk to are ramping up for a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in housing starts this year."Heist said the surging Idaho economy is bringing up to 20 new small businesses a month to the Treasure Valley, each representing five or six families.
• "That has a large impact on demand for homes," he said.U.S. Bank western region economist John Mitchell said he expects the industry will continue to prosper because of an Idaho economy that is out-performing economies of neighboring states.
• Mitchell said the state remains "on a tear," citing statistics indicating that Idaho is first in the region in population growth, at 2 percent a year. The state is second in the nation in job growth and fourth in housing appreciation, with an annual rate of 9.29 percent as of the third quarter of 2004, he said."It (Idaho) is one of the premier places in the region," he said.Mitchell added that the national economy will continue to grow in 2005, barring a dramatic drop in the dollar or a major oil shock resulting in a rapid jump in interest rates.
• Jerry Van Engen, an industrial broker with Thornton Oliver Keller, said the local commercial real estate market began to turn around in the second half of 2004, with office vacancy rates falling from a high of 11.12 percent in the third quarter to 10.71 percent late in the year.The industrial vacancy rates climbed climbed slightly, to 8.68 percent. He predicted a turnaround for office construction projects this year, with the Eagle Road corridor becoming a "hotbed" of office activity.

Economy - The Idaho Statesman - Always Idaho