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Great Falls Housing Market is Unique

By Rachel Ousley

Story Created: Jul 5, 2011 at 8:06 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 11, 2011 at 3:35 PM MDT

When I moved to Great Falls, I had a hard time looking for apartments. There's way more demand than supply. National housing trends don't exactly fit Great Falls. This community is unique for a few reasons.

If you’re looking to rent, it may be harder than you think. Manager of Autumn Run Apartments, Jennifer Benski, says there has been a huge turn around in the last year in rentals. Autumn Run offers one, two, and three bedroom affordable housing. This is the first year they are operating on a waiting list for this long.

Surprisingly, the demand they are seeing isn’t all about the housing market. One answer according to Benski is that Great Falls is steadily growing. People moving here for jobs are more likely to rent, at least until they are more familiar with the area.

Great Falls has a unique economy that creates a unique housing market. Malmstrom Air Force base keeps the rental market hopping. James Dea is President of Great Falls Association of Realtors. He says the air force base keeps people coming and going and stabilizes the economy a bit.

It is definitely a buyer’s market out there; so why is there so much demand for rentals? Dea says realistically everyone is a buyer. Renters are buyers for landlords. In other words renters are keeping landlords as buyers, rather than using the money to invest in property of their own. In Dea’s opinion, it makes much more sense to take advantage of a buyer’s market and have something to show for the investment.

Dea has about 100 properties for sale but only one for rent right now. He says there’s very few places in Great Falls available for rent, compared to the at least 800 for sale. One reason rentals are in such high demand is that qualifying for home loans can be tough. Banks are a little tighter with their money these days. However, renting can actually help you get a loan. Benski says that often buyers become renters to boost their credit score before applying for loans.

The cost of renting around Great Falls is following the national trend of increasing. Naturally, people begin looking at renting as opposed to buying when money is tight and buying is potentially dangerous down the road. However, supply and demand plays a big role. Benski says the state of Montana recently raised rental costs on low to median income housing. She says this is one of the largest increases in a number of years.

Dea says the housing market may be scaring potential buyers and renters, but the national picture isn't an accurate portrayal of the specific market you're looking in. Plus Great Falls has not been affected nearly as much as other areas, so do a little research.

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Anonymous said on Saturday, Jul 9 at 7:40 AM

Malmstrom definitely keeps the rental market hopping. Too bad Benski/Autumn Run will not rent to military! Benski is an uneducated apartment manager, hardly qualified to comment on the housing market here in Great Falls.

Anonymous said on Wednesday, Jul 6 at 2:12 PM

Very sad to see that "investigative" journalism is now just asking pro-community their one-sided opinions and calling it "news". This article is so incorrect in it's statements and assumptions, I am surprised someone actually got paid to write it. Take a look at our economy, the standards of living and how many of these rentals are Section 8 housing (including Autumn Run). There's lots of people RENTING because the amount of people on WELFARE (assistance, food stamps, etc) in Montana is INCREASING. This is not opinion, it's fact that can be researched and cited (as I have done in a matter of minutes). It has nothing to do with the population growth, for pete's sake.

Anonymous said on Tuesday, Jul 5 at 10:49 PM

We are in need of a rental property that will allow 2 large OUTSIDE ONLY, well behaved, family dogs without phenomenal deposits for them. I was moved to Montana by Jeramy Meyers to work for Flawless Auto body in Nov.2010 and have a steady job.My wife works at home raising our children (2yr. old boy/4yr old girl) We are a clean, responsible, honest family in need. The rental we are currently in is to go on the market for sale July 1.and need to move by the 10th and secure another rental BEFORE then. WANTED: House or mobile home (prefer house) clean 3bd, 1-2 ba, with OUTSIDE area for the dogs, garage or storage needed. willing to sign mo.-mo./6mo./1yr lease(prefer 1 yr lease) Can provide references, rental, work and/or personal. If you can help or know someone who can, PLEASE contact Jon @ 406-260-3694 thanks for your time!

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