Homer's Market

People ask me all the time about how Homer's real estate market is doing, and I always answer the same: We have a small market (76 houses sold so far this past year) but we're steady, selling between five and nine houses per month. Modest houses under $250K seem to be selling the best; it's harder for houses over $300K to sell, and they are often on the market for a longer period of time. Homer doesn't have much of an economic base--fishing and the timber industry has flattened over the past few years, and our tourist industry's success in any given year depends on the amount of discretionary money that can bring folks here. A combination of bad weather and a dicey economic forecast does not bode well for our fishing charter, eco-tourism, restaurant and gallery industries during their brief seasons. That being said, there are plenty of individuals and families who are self-employed or employed by one of our major employers (the Feds, the State, the Borough, the City, the hospital, the school district, Homer Electric Association, or our many service-related businesses) and they know about the wisdom of the forced savings account and the tax benefits of home ownership. So even though a lot of our Homer real estate home and land purchases are driven by our wonderful view and by people who come here and then decide to live here, there is a steady market of folks who already are here who want to own a home. Thus the on-going predictability in our sales numbers.