IDAHO FALLS - Two years ago, Idaho Falls saw the biggest housing boom in a generation. Several realtors from all over the country came to Idaho Falls to build.

Here we are today, and many of those same houses have never had anyone live in them.

Steve Butler, President of the Greater Idaho Falls Association of Realtors explains.

"Obviously what we saw in the past was a boom. There was the housing boom, there was the construction boom. It was really really a great market back then," says Butler.

The current market is the lowest that local realtors have seen since the late 1960 and early 70s when interest rates were at some of their highest points

In Bonneville County, there are currently 1,192 residential homes listed. And some owners have done whatever they can just to stop their mortgages.

"I've had homes out there that were over 300-thousand, some close to 500 thousand that we've dropped anywhere from 50 to 100 thousand dollars," explained Butler.

The trend for homeowners these days are for customs homes. Vacant lots have been much tougher to sell.

"People aren't as anxious to buy and build like they were a couple years ago. So do I anticipate that will increase? Sure. As things get better and the economy gets stronger, we're going to see more of that," says Butler.

The government's tax credit program for first time home buyers helped finally move some of these stagnant homes. Thanks to an extension through next year, more should also be finally bought. Steve also expect to see homes sold with Areva coming into the area.

"Right now we're slowly starting to come back up. We're seeing some good business, there's some great homes out there at some great prices. Once the Christmas season gets over, typically we have a slow down period between November and December, and we figure with that extension, that's going to boost it and we're gonna start to see houses flying again. Not like they were, we're a ways away from that still," say Butler.

So is the Idaho Falls housing market thriving, or dying?


"Thriving. Yeah, we're thriving. Idaho Falls is a destination place. I would think that we're going to continue to see people moving in. We're going to continue to see the Idaho Falls area and Ammon grow. And therefore our market, as far as the real estate market is going to continue to grow a little bit at a time," says Butler.


There's still a lot of sales going on. Compared to what there was a year ago, no, there is not. But we're still making it. I talk to agents on a daily basis who are still closing deals and as long as they're still closing deals, I consider that a thriving market", says Butler.

Overall we've learned that businesses, employment and the housing market have all suffered during this recession, but signs and experts show there will be a turn around in the immediate future.