The housing supply in the Spokane continues to fall to record low levels at all pricing points. In February of 2021, we gathered the top minds in the industry at the national, regional, and local levels to provide a market-based analysis of housing needs for our region.
This white paper serves as a guidepost that provides a full picture of the true need for housing, the impacts of housing policies in our region, the needs of Spokane, what residents want, the influence of buyer migration from larger metro markets, a history of under-supply and the social impacts to our community.
Key Findings
• The Spokane area’s housing supply is severe, with a 94% reduction in available homes for sale since 2010.
• A lack of inventory has escalated the median home price in Spokane County 66.8% since 2015 with a median home increase from $179,000 (2016) to over $300,000 (2020).
• From 2010 to 2019 the Spokane Region under built approximately 32,000 housing units to meet demand.
• This has resulted in lost economic opportunity – $6-billion dollars in wages and employment since 2010, $1.1-billion dollars in immediate and ongoing tax revenues.
• A lack of inventory has led to thousands of families renting who cannot find a place to buy.
• Vacancies in regional rentals remains at a dangerous level of around 1%.
• The biggest lack of inventory lies in entry level or workforce housing.
• From personal health to family stress, to student performance in school, to increased levels of homelessness, Spokane’s lack of housing has triggered a severe impact on the health of our citizens – especially among minorities and our youth.
• Spokane has high levels of cost-burdened families spending more of their income on shelter than most similar cities in the state and the US.
• The Spokane Region is among the top places to move in the country with expected growth of 48,000 more people by the year 2030.
• Many new home buyers are migrating from larger West coast markets adding 8-to-14,000 new residents annually
• The market has shifted with bulk of new homes in our region now built across the border in Idaho.
• Local public policy has resulted in the lack of housing production.
• In the City of Spokane’s 20-year plan to build around centers and corridors not one single development has happened
Summit Participants:
James Young – Director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research
“The Housing Market Data Toolkit and Housing Needs Based on Income.”
Jessica Lautz – VP of Demographics and Behavioral Insights at the National Association of REALTORS®
“Spokane Emerges As A Top Ten Real Estate Market During and in a Post-COVID Environment”
Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington – NAHB Assistant Vice President for Forecasting and Analysis
“Housing Growth Continues as the Economy Recovers in 2021”
Mike Kingsella – Up For Growth National Director
“Housing Underproduction for Washington State and Spokane.”
D. Patrick Jones, PhD – Executive Director of EWU’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis
“A Summary of Population Forecasts and Origins of Recent Newcomers to Spokane County”
Sara Stephenson – American Strategies
“Housing Needs Assessment Survey for Spokane Spring 2020”
Jim Frank – Founder/Developer – Greenstone Homes
“The Shifting Marketplace: How Spokane Lost Market Share To Kootenai County.”
Al French – Spokane County Commissioner
“Broken Pledges Under the Growth Management Act.”
Ben Stuckart – Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium
“The Missing Housing Supply for Low Income Families”
Vange M. Ocasio Hocheimer, PhD – Associate Professor of Economic, Whitworth University
“The Social Impacts of Housing in Spokane”
Watch the event for yourself here