by Calculated Risk on 8/03/2005 11:34:00 PM

Catherine Wilkinson writes for BKCI 2 in Boise, Idaho: Real Estate Sales Surge

If you build it, they will come. And as fast as homes are being built in the Treasure Valley, the faster out of state investors primarily from California and Nevada are buying them up. I've never seen anything like it in my entire life." said Tony Drost with the National Association of Retail Property Managers. He also adds he's having a hard time keeping up with the demand. "I personally field about 7 phone calls a day."

Experts say the market is so hot single family home sales and prices have set record numbers in the first half of 2005.

An average price of a home in Meridian was about $177,000, in just six months that number increased 14%.

But Meridian was not the only city experiencing dramatic changes..

Nampa and Eagle saw their home prices increase by 11%, and in Boise prices jumped a whopping 23%. "It's all numbers you can see the appreciation happening and it actually escalates as more invest and it's just going to continue going up," said Drost.

California investor Bob Koop says it was a deal he couldn't pass up. "It seemed like your market as a whole was undervalued."

But this hot housing market bubble could pop as more rental property become available. Rental prices are going down, something Drost warns his investors about before they buy, "There's 200 single family homes for rent in Meridian. In March when I did my search there was roughly 36 homes which at the time I thought was kind of high and now when I look at 200 I don't even know what to think."

But Koop says Boise's a bargain, and is in fact coming back to buy more, "I'll be up there in two weeks."

Emphasis by Ms. Wilkinson.

I have nothing to add.