BUTTE – In just one year, Butte’s housing values made a significant jump.
“I’m going to tell you the average price of a house of the houses sold was $143,000. This year to date it’s $173,000,” said Denise Kelly, owner, and broker at Re/Max in Butte.
Realtors credit the jump to home buyers from Bozeman and Missoula who are now turning their sights on Butte.
“West coast towns like LA and Seattle have moved into Bozeman and Missoula and in turn have priced a lot of people out of their homes, so they’re moving into Butte and Helena,” Kelly said.
Increased housing values in Bozeman come with increased sticker shock.
“We’re seeing the average price of a house in Bozeman is $462,000. How can a new family afford that?” Kelly asked.
The new interest in Butte real-estate has seen the Mining City get absorbed by the Bozeman market when Butte joined the Big Sky Country Multiple Listing Service in December.
“So we’re pulling in investors and buyers from all over Western Montana into Butte. So we’re seeing multiple offers on houses, we’re seeing increased values in houses,” she said.
With housing values on the rise, those in the industry still don’t believe people in Butte will get priced out of town like they did in other communities.
“I will tell you Butte’s going to be a steady-Eddie, we always are. We didn’t have huge crashes when the economy crashed, we didn’t have big booms,” Kelly said. “We’re really steady, I don’t think we’re going to have this crazy, crazy influx of people, I think it’s going to be a nice slow, steady growth.”
Hopefully without too many growing pains.
