The average home sale price in Alaska rose 8.9% last year, driven by high demand and low inventory, according to a state report.
The average home price was a record $388,648 in 2021, the report from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said.
The market remains strong despite interest rates rising in the last few months, realtors told the Anchorage Daily News.
Lower 48 residents looking for homes or land in Alaska add to the demand. Limited land for building in Alaska, along with soaring construction costs, help push home prices higher.
“It’s your classic macroeconomic love affair, where high demand meets low supply and prices go up accordingly,” said Bill Bolling, a co-owner of Gateway City Realty in Ketchikan.
Ketchikan, where the average price was nearly $440,000, had a 16% increase, which was the largest increase in the state, the report said. Bolling said some people have purchased homes in Ketchikan but work remotely for employers in the Lower 48.
The most expensive place to buy a home in Alaska was the state capital of Juneau, where the average price was $475,000. In Anchorage, the state’s largest city, the average price for a home was just over $436,000.
In Juneau and Anchorage toward the end of 2021, five homes were sold for every one listed, the report said.
“So they were being sold even before they were being listed,” through means like word-of-mouth, said Rob Kreiger, an economist for the state who wrote the report. “That’s not something I’ve seen before, at those multiples. That’s probably the clearest indicator that demand is outpacing available supply.”
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