A Buyer's Market Is Hiding in North Idaho's Housing Market

Kootenai County housing inventory is down overall. But in one price range, buyers suddenly have 33% more homes to choose from.

You can watch our discussion about these market stats and the current real estate market.

If you've been following the North Idaho housing market, you've probably heard the same things repeatedly.

• There aren't enough homes for sale.
  Home prices are too high.
  Mortgage rates make buying difficult.
  And if you're looking for something affordable, good luck.

There's some truth to all of that.

But when we started digging into the October 2026 housing numbers for Kootenai County, we found something that doesn't fit the usual narrative.

Inventory of homes priced between $400,000 and $500,000 is up 33% compared to last year.

Meanwhile, inventory across the county is actually down.

That means buyers shopping in one particular price range have significantly more choices than they did a year ago, even though the overall market appears to have fewer homes available.

And that's worth paying attention to.

What the October 2026 Kootenai County Housing Numbers Show

Let's start with the broader market.

Comparing October 2026 to October 2025, here's what happened in Kootenai County:

Market Metric	Year-Over-Year Change
Median Sales Price	+0.08%
Active Homes for Sale	-2.2%
Pending Sales	+3.4%
Closed Sales	-13.9%
Days on Market	-19%

At first glance, these numbers tell a somewhat confusing story.

Home prices are essentially flat, although technically up slightly. Inventory is down, pending sales are up, and homes are spending less time on the market.

Those are generally encouraging signals for sellers.

But closed sales are down almost 14%.

So fewer homes actually sold, even though more homes were under contract.

There are several possible explanations.

Buyers might be struggling with financing. Inspection negotiations could be causing transactions to fall apart. Some sellers may be withdrawing their properties after unsuccessful attempts to sell.

We also know that a significant number of listings have expired, been canceled, or been withdrawn over the past couple of years.

But without looking specifically at failed contracts and listing outcomes, we can't say precisely what's driving the difference.

What we can say is that the market is more complicated than any single headline suggests.

And it gets even more interesting when we separate the numbers by price.

There Isn't One Kootenai County Housing Market

One of the things we regularly discuss on The Showing is that there are markets inside every market.

The real estate market in Coeur d'Alene isn't necessarily the same as the market in Post Falls or Hayden.

A single-story home might face completely different competition than a two-story home in the same neighborhood.

New construction competes differently than established homes.

And a $450,000 house isn't necessarily experiencing the same market conditions as an $850,000 house.

That's why countywide averages can be misleading.

We decided to separate Kootenai County's active inventory into four price ranges.

Here's what we found.

Kootenai County Housing Inventory by Price Range

October 2026 compared to October 2025

Home Price Range	Inventory Change
Under $400,000	-9.0%
$400,000–$500,000	+33.0%
$500,000–$750,000	-3.2%
$750,000–$1 million	-19.2%
All Price Ranges	-2.2%

Look at that $400,000 to $500,000 category.

It's the only price range we examined where inventory increased.

And it didn't increase a little.

It increased by one-third.

Meanwhile, homes priced between $750,000 and $1 million have almost 20% less competition than they did a year ago.

Two homeowners selling in the same county could be experiencing completely different housing markets.

That's why it's important to understand the market you're actually participating in, not just the average market reported in the news.

Why the $400,000–$500,000 Market Caught Our Attention

This discovery started with something Katherine noticed while looking at new construction for a buyer.

She was touring homes priced in the mid-$400,000s, with some available around $430,000 and others approaching $500,000.

These weren't necessarily outdated homes needing substantial work.

Some were brand-new.

And some builders were offering mortgage interest-rate buydowns to make the monthly payment more attractive.

Her reaction was simple:

Why are these homes still available?

For years, we've heard that North Idaho needs more affordable housing.

People want starter homes. They want new construction below the median price. They want options that don't require a luxury-home budget.

Here were homes that seemed to address at least part of that demand.

Yet they weren't being snapped up.

Katherine started noticing more and more listings in the same price range. When she searched Kootenai County, she found roughly 70 to 75 active homes between $400,000 and $500,000.

That seemed unusually high.

So we compared inventory with the previous year.

And there was our answer.

Inventory was up 33%.

| With inventory up in the $400,000 to $500,000 price range, buyers have more options than they did a year ago. You can start by exploring North Idaho homes for sale and narrowing the results to your budget.

Is This Actually a Buyer's Market?

More inventory generally means more competition among sellers.

And more seller competition can create opportunities for buyers.

But technically, a 33% increase in inventory doesn't automatically establish a buyer's market.

To determine that, we'd also want to evaluate how quickly those homes are selling, how many are going under contract, and how much inventory exists relative to buyer demand.

Still, this is a meaningful shift.

Buyers in the $400,000 to $500,000 range have substantially more choices than they did last year.

Sellers have substantially more competition.

And builders are offering incentives in at least some communities.

Those conditions can create opportunities for buyers to negotiate on price, financing costs, closing expenses, or other terms.

It's a very different environment from one where buyers have to compete against multiple offers just to get a property under contract.

The Surprising Problem With Affordable New Construction

There's another side to this story that concerns us.

For years, buyers have complained that builders aren't constructing enough homes at lower price points.

And understandably so.

But what happens when builders actually offer homes below the county's median price, and those homes don't sell as quickly as expected?

Builders are businesses.

They have to consider their construction costs, financing costs, profit margins, and the time it takes to sell a completed property.

If they consistently struggle to sell $450,000 homes while seeing stronger demand for $700,000 homes, what incentive do they have to keep building at the lower price point?

They may conclude that constructing more expensive homes makes better business sense.

That's not a prediction that builders will abandon starter homes.

It's a concern worth watching.

Because if buyers continue sitting on the sidelines while more attainable homes accumulate on the market, we could eventually see builders reduce production in precisely the category where people have been demanding more supply.

And that could create another shortage down the road.

What This Means if You're Selling a Home Under $500,000

If you're planning to sell a home in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, this doesn't mean your home won't sell.

It means you need to understand your competition.

And that competition might be very different from what it was just a few months ago.

For example, suppose a nearby new construction home closes for $480,000.

On paper, that sale might seem like a good comparable property for your home.

But what if the builder also provided $20,000 toward a mortgage rate buydown or other buyer incentives?

The recorded sale price would still be $480,000, but the buyer received additional economic value that your listing might not be offering.

You can't evaluate that transaction by looking at the sales price alone.

Sellers need to understand what buyers are actually getting from competing properties.

That includes the condition of the home, location, floor plan, financing incentives, seller concessions, and available alternatives.

Pricing based solely on what a similar home sold for three months ago could leave you behind the market.

Your asking price needs to compete with what buyers can purchase today, not what they could purchase last summer.

What About Sellers Above $500,000?

The picture looks different as prices increase.

Between $500,000 and $750,000, active inventory is down 3.2% year over year.

And between $750,000 and $1 million, inventory is down 19.2%.

For homeowners selling in those price ranges, that's encouraging.

There's less active competition than there was a year ago.

Of course, less inventory doesn't automatically guarantee strong buyer demand or a quick sale.

But it does mean sellers in those categories are competing against fewer available properties.

This is where the idea of markets within markets becomes especially important.

A seller with an $850,000 property could have a very different negotiating position than someone selling a $450,000 property, even though both homes are in Kootenai County.

Don't Let the Average Home Price Decide Whether You Can Buy

There's something else we want potential homebuyers to understand.

The average home price is not your home price.

Think about the average cost of a wedding.

If someone tells you the average wedding costs $35,000, does that mean you need $35,000 to get married?

Of course not.

You could have a small ceremony, get married in your backyard, or choose a venue that fits your budget.

The average includes everything from modest weddings to elaborate celebrations.

Housing works similarly.

Countywide home prices include starter homes, luxury homes, waterfront properties, acreage, and everything in between.

If you're shopping for your first home, why would you assume you need to afford the county's median or average home?

That's not necessarily the market you're shopping in.

And affordability isn't determined by price alone.

Your down payment, income, other debts, credit profile, mortgage terms, property taxes, and insurance all affect what a particular home would cost you.

Two households earning the same income may qualify for very different mortgage amounts.

Which brings us to something we've seen repeatedly.

People often decide they can't afford a home before they've actually investigated whether that's true. 

What your budget actually buys in Kootenai County

Don't Reject Yourself Before You Know the Numbers

When we were newly married and thinking about purchasing our first home, we assumed we needed more time.

We weren't making a tremendous amount of money, and we figured we should start preparing for a purchase sometime in the future.

So we met with a lender.

We brought our tax returns and expected to discuss what we needed to do over the next year or two.

Instead, after reviewing our finances, the lender told us we could make a purchase work right then.

We were surprised.

And we bought a house.

Not long afterward, smaller homes in the same neighborhood were selling for roughly what we'd paid.

We couldn't have predicted that.

And we're certainly not suggesting home prices will jump 10% or 15% next spring because inventory in one price range happens to be elevated today.

But we learned an important lesson from that experience.

We were making assumptions about what we could afford without having the information necessary to make that decision.

That's something we still see buyers do today.

Maybe a coworker says buying is impossible.

Maybe someone sees a headline about mortgage rates.

Maybe they're comparing themselves to friends with completely different financial obligations.

And without ever talking to a lender, they decide homeownership is out of reach.

Sometimes it genuinely is.

But sometimes it isn't.

The only way to know is to evaluate your actual circumstances to see about getting started with buying a home. 

Is Now a Good Time to Buy a Home in North Idaho?

There's no single answer for everyone.

For some buyers, purchasing a home today might not make financial sense.

For others, the increased inventory between $400,000 and $500,000 could present an opportunity that wasn't available a year ago.

The important thing is recognizing that the housing market is not moving uniformly.

Across Kootenai County, active inventory is down 2.2%.

But within the $400,000 to $500,000 price range, inventory is up 33%.

Those two facts are true at the same time.

And they tell very different stories.

If you're looking for a home in Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, or elsewhere in Kootenai County, don't make your decision based entirely on national housing headlines or countywide averages.

Look at the homes available in your price range.

Compare the actual alternatives.

Find out what your financing options would look like.

And then make an informed decision.

You might discover that the market you're shopping in is much more favorable than you thought.

Darin and Katherine Persinger are North Idaho and Washington-area real estate brokers, investors, and hosts of The Showing, where they discuss real estate, money, marriage, and family.

Market figures discussed are from the October 2026 Kootenai County housing statistics reviewed for this episode. Inventory comparisons are year over year. Conditions may vary by location, property type, and price range.