Alaska – They Don’t Call It “The Last Frontier” for Nothing!
Alaska is separated from the continental U.S., both geographically and economically. And, as far as the housing market here is concerned, that’s a good thing!
The economy here relies on oil and gas – two things that are going to be needed, no matter what the economy is doing. As a result, the Last Frontier’s economy actually out-performed the experts’ predictions for 2012, and they expect 2013 to bring even better results when it comes to the number of jobs added around the state.
Predictions aside, though, you can pretty much always count on Alaska’s state economy and jobs market to be relatively stable. That means you can count on the housing market here to be relatively stable, too.
Just how stable are we talking?
In the state capital of Juneau, the housing market isn’t just stable; it’s thriving! In fact, Juneau is home to some of the healthiest houses for sale in Alaska. Between 2010 and 2012, the average selling price here jumped $40,000!
Amazingly, though, realtors in Juneau have been able to fetch those higher prices for their clients without relying on a lower inventory. In the rest of the country, prices have risen largely because there aren’t very many homes for sale – and thus, the law of supply and demand kicks in. But in Juneau, the number of available homes for sale just keeps going up!
What about Alaska’s biggest city, Anchorage?
Home values here are up, which could encourage more owners to start listing their properties for sale. Unlike Juneau, Anchorage isn’t seeing the same selling boom. Instead, realtors in Anchorage are dealing with the same low inventory that most realtors around the country are dealing with.
Multi-family units – like duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes – saw the biggest value increase in 2012 (6%), and experts think that trend could continue in 2013. At the beginning of 2013, the average single-family home in Anchorage was worth $318,000.
There’s quite a bit of commercial development set to open around Anchorage in 2013. That’s something that could send home values even higher.
And speaking of development, it isn’t all on the commercial side of things. In 2012, the Last Frontier’s construction industry grew as a whole for the first time since 2007. That means you can count on seeing more new homes for sale around Alaska in the coming months, in addition to all of the commercial development.
They may call Alaska the “Last Frontier”, but this state seems to be leading the way in a lot of areas!