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Historical Land Sales in Shoshone County - Statistics on North Idaho Real Estate

Silver Valley has become a hotbed of activity in recent months - some say because of the dramatic rise in silver prices. Others say it is this "undiscovered country" that is only minutes from Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, Washington. Regardless of the reason, taking a look at historical sales data for Shoshone County will quickly show us how land values have moved significantly higher of late and how savvy investors are quickly discovering this beautiful section of North Idaho.

This report looks at land sales, including homes on acreage, that were at least one acre in size. Readers who are not familiar with Shoshone County should realize that some parcels of land along the coveted North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and other riverfront and river view properties may demand dramatically higher prices that even larger parcels of land that sit remote and untouched by waterways. This report does not attempt to break out waterfront, water view and non-water view properties.

First let's take a look at these one acre or more parcels over the past several years:

It's pretty easy to see from this map that the most prolific period was 2004 - 2006. However this chart also reflects the sold price of the properties, by displaying a larger icon for a higher sales price. When we take that into account we see that the 2006 and later sales are weighted more heavily than previous years. This becomes even more apparent with a view zoomed in to the higher activity areas:

While the post 2005 sales have not yet returned to their previous highs, it seems clear that an upward pricing pressure exists even in a current market that is down from the 2004 - 2006 figures on units sold, but still more than double that of the 2002 - 2004 period. While one or two high dollar sales always has the ability to "spike" an average, the chart is still a good way to size up the sold prices by seeing not only the quantity of units sold graphically, but by also seeing the representations for higher price through the variable sized icons.

For the more data minded person the graph below may be more explanatory:

The above chart shows average prices on a year by year basis. Prices were largely flat through 2000, with spikes in 1999 and 2001. Then average prices returned to a more normal level, but clearly the trend has been higher in recent years versus the more muted nature of the pre-2000 figures barring spike years.

Finally we should take a look at the average Days on Market (DOM) for these parcels. If the time on market has increased lately then we might expect there to be some downward pricing pressure. However, if the DOM is shorter than that in recent years then that would tend to add credence to the idea that demand for property in Shoshone County is increasing. Here is the graph:

Note that despite the increasing prices of late, the days on market in 2006 and 2007 are down significantly! This shorter time on market is indicative of a higher level of demand and therefore supports the increasing prices, despite the current national real estate market.

Of course the reader will have to come to their own conclusions as to why Shoshone County Real Estate has become such a treasured commodity in such a down housing market! Perhaps investors who were spooked out of the stock market and the urban housing market have realized that both raw land and rural housing that is still close to larger towns would be a better investment. Regardless of the reasons Shoshone County is clearly benefiting from a localized interest in their unique properties!

When only the best will do the answer is clear - Sotheby's International Realty!