WASHINGTON — Existing home prices in the wildfire-prone West rose at a faster year-over-year clip than the national rate in May, even though last year was one of the worst wildfire seasons in at least the past 10 years.
The median Western home price rose 19.9 percent year-over-year — the highest of any U.S. region — to hit $276,400 in May. Nationwide, home prices climbed 15.4 percent to a median value of $208,000.
(According to the National Association of Realtors)
“It has a lot to do with inventory. Inventory levels in the West are tight,” said Sara Wiskerchen, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Realtors. “Fewer properties, more people are bidding on them. And it’s driving up the asking price.”
Nearly 68,000 wildfires damaged more than 2,000 homes and burned 9.33 million acres across the country last year, or about 138 acres per fire, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. The West accounted for 7.78 million acres, or 83 percent of all wildfire damage in the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
But May homebuyers bought 1.23 million existing homes in the vulnerable West, up 7 percent from a year earlier. Total May existing home sales in the U.S. rose 12.9 percent year-over-year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
May is considered the cusp of wildfire season, which starts in late June.
“Not everyone (in the West) lives in wildfire areas,” said Carole Walker, executive director at the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. “Most people aren’t living in areas that are high-risk.”
In Colorado last year, wildfires damaged more than 600 homes and racked up $567.4 million in insurance claims, according to the association.
“Wildfires rightly deserve the news coverage, but the number of homes involved is quite small in terms of the overall number of housing,” said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Even though news coverage is there, the impact on the housing stock is an infinitesimal amount.”
That has kept Western homeowner-insurance premiums in check. The West is not represented in the top 15 states for average annual fees, according 2010 data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
(According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners)
Western states averaged $735.46 per year, 17 percent less than the national average of $890.18. Premiums were lowest — $500 a year — in Idaho, where last year 1,149 fires set a national high destruction of 1.67 million acres.