Anchorage home values have been surging upward for the last five years, and at least one local Realtor sees more growth ahead.
But strong as home appreciation seems, it pales to that of many other cities around the United States, said Niel Thomas, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker Fortune in Anchorage.
“Those of us in the business hear fewer and fewer people express sticker shock about the price of our houses,” he said. “Our market is just not seen as terribly expensive compared to other parts of the country.”
Anchorage’s average home sales price has grown by 11 percent annually in recent years, with many other cities showing something like 30 percent growth, he said.
Next year’s local home market should look much like last year, when the average home sold for about $290,000, not counting December, for which full sales data was not available, Thomas said during an Anchorage Board of Realtors luncheon.
An average home price of $400,000 is common in other cities today, Thomas said.
Many are wondering if home prices nationally are overheated, whether the bubble is about to burst. But Thomas said in a follow-up interview Thursday he doesn’t see that happening in Anchorage. That’s more likely in other cities where home prices have gone up much faster, he said.
Here are a few other remarks from the Board of Realtors luncheon:
—If local home values keep growing at the rates seen since 2000, Thomas figures the average Anchorage home could sell for about $400,000 in five years.
—Some people think a real estate license is a ticket to riches, but data Thomas said he acquired from the Alaska Multiple Listing Service, a trade association of real estate professionals, shows that a relative few make big bucks in home sales. According to the data, 16 MLS members—the association has 1,173 members—reported handling transactions involving 10 million or more in properties last year. On average, the typical agent earned $56,000 in commissions last year, before deducting the brokerage company’s cut and the agent’s own business expenses, he estimated.
Mark Edwards, an economist and director of the state Office of Economic Development, said Alaska’s economic climate seems to support the idea that home values keep rising.
One factor, he said, is the lack of available land for new home building in Anchorage.
“We are surrounded by water on two sides and a large mountain range on another side,” he said.
The other big factor is that the local economy has been growing modestly but steadily and is increasingly diversified, Edwards said. And Alaska’s population is growing.
U.S. Census Bureau figures show that home ownership is a growing trend here, Edwards added. In 1984, about 58 percent of census respondents reported owning their own home. In 2004, the figure was 67 percent.