Impact of growth on Helena housing

There are signs all over town that Helena is a growing city and one area where that's evident is the housing market. In the first of a three part series looking at the growth of Helena, those in the housing industry say whether you're a buyer or seller, times are good.

"The housing market is solid and we're expecting it to remain so," says Ryan Swinney, President-Elect, Helena Association of Realtors.

Over the past few years, when other parts of Montana and the country were seeing a decrease in population, Helena was seeing an increase.

"Helena has been employed primarily by the state and federal government and we've also seen some just stable unemployment numbers," says Swinney.

Most of the people moving into the area are coming with job in hand and are from Montana.

"We have people call every day that are going to work for the state and I would have to say around the state itself a lot of people are coming here to Helena," says Cindy Maddock, Helena Manor Apartments manager.

"Most of the buyers we're seeing right now in Helena Montana are local Helenans, local Montanans," says Swinney.

Finding an apartment to rent in the city is difficult.

"It's like we'll get one or two vacancies and we wind up filling them right back up," says Maddock.

While the housing market is fairly stable.

"As far as inventory goes, we're down a little bit over where we were a year ago, but we're starting to see some new homes come out on the market," says Swinney.

With most of the homes being sold to local residents, local apartment complexes say they get calls from people out of state looking to move to Helena in the near future.

"It seems like you get half and half, people who want something right away or people that are looking for something three months from now," says Maddock.

According to the 2010 US Census, Helena's population grew by about 9.3%, Helena's new growth policy predicts a 30% increase over the next 30 years.

"This indicates the demand for housing is going to continue to increase over the next years to come in Helena," says Swinney.           

For now, Helena realtors did see an increase in sales and the number of houses on the market in February and March.

"It's a good time to list your home, good time to buy a home," says Swinney.

Aside from housing, there are also new businesses and expanding businesses in the Helena community. On Wednesday, we’ll continue our special series with the impact on businesses in the area. Then on Thursday, a closer look at the city of Helena’s Growth Policy, which is set to be released next week.

Story by Josh Egbert, Beartooth NBC.
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