Washington
Spokane County
≈ 1.05%
average effective rate
Levy growth cap1.00%/yr (statutory)
2026 county increaseForgone
Homestead exemptionNone
On a $750,000 home
$7,875/yr
◦ Fresh numbers, monthly
City-by-city monthly reports.
Computed from the live Spokane REALTORS® and Coeur d'Alene MLS feeds on the first of every month — median asking prices, pace, and what it means if you're buying or selling.
◦ Market Report · Q1 2026
From a seller's market —
to something stranger.
Mortgage rates dipped below 6% for the first time in three years. Spokane listings climbed 25% year-over-year. And Coeur d'Alene posted its first median-price decline since February 2024. The Inland Northwest had a quarter that resists a single adjective — so this report uses several.
Published 16 May 2026 By the Ethan Perreiah Real Estate team Reading time ~ 8 min
The quarter was defined by a single open window — the five-day stretch in late February when 30-year rates touched 5.98% — and what slammed it shut. Spokane's spring market kicked in mid-February and never let up; Coeur d'Alene's headline median softened for the first time in two years even as homes sold faster than they did in Q1 2025. Both markets remain inventory-starved by historical norms. Both are absorbing a measurable, sustained wave of inbound migration from Seattle and California.
◦ The numbers
$415,883
Spokane Q1 median · +0.5% YoY
$545,000
Kootenai March median · −0.2% YoY
5.98 → 6.46%
Mortgage rate Q1 range
+25%
Spokane new listings · YoY
656
Kootenai active listings · −11% YoY
#7
Spokane's national net-inflow rank
Median sale prices reflect Spokane area Q1 aggregate (Spokane REALTORS / Stacker) and Kootenai County March 2026 (Coeur d'Alene Regional REALTORS). Rate range is Freddie Mac PMMS, week ending Feb 26 (low) to April 3 (high). Migration rank from Redfin Q4 2025 migration report.
◦ Section 01 · Rates
The sub-6% window
slammed shut.
On the week of February 26th, the Freddie Mac 30-year survey came in at 5.98% — the first 5-handle since Q3 2022. Inland Northwest buyers who had been waiting three years for that number had less than a week to act.
By April 3rd the same survey read 6.46% — five consecutive weekly increases erasing the dip and then some. The National Association of REALTORS quietly trimmed its 2026 existing-home-sales forecast from +14% to +4% during the same stretch.
Fig. 1 — 30-year fixed, weekly · Freddie Mac PMMS
◦ Section 02 · Spokane County
Spokane found its other shoe.
For two years the Spokane story was the same: not enough houses, prices grinding higher, sellers naming the terms. Q1 2026 broke that pattern quietly. New listings ran 25% above February 2025. The Spokane area sale-to-list ratio settled at 98.8% — still strong, but the first time since 2022 it sat below 100% on a quarterly average.
What didn't change: well-priced homes sell in under 30 days. What did: anything aspirational sat. The market started rewarding discipline.
"If you price it right, it's selling quickly. And if you price it wrong, it's just sitting. There's a difference between a competitive price and a compelling price."
Q1 median sale price
$415,883
+0.5% YoY
Median days on market
29
+2 days YoY
Sale-to-list ratio
98.8%
First <100% in 8 quarters
Price per sq ft
$206
−4.4% YoY
◦ Section 03 · Kootenai County
Coeur d'Alene's first dip — in two years.
March 2026 was the first month since February 2024 that Kootenai County's median single-family sale price came in below the prior year. The headline number — $545,000 against $546,000 — is statistically a whisper. The story underneath is louder: active listings down 11%, average days-on-market down 8.5%, and 507 homes closed in Q1 against just 656 active at quarter-end.
That ratio — active listings nearly equal to pending — describes a market that doesn't have a supply problem sitting on the shelf. It has a supply problem at the source.
"Right now things feel balanced — but the lower price ranges are still moving quickly. Active listings is almost equal to the number of pending listings. Strong demand combined with limited inventory."
March median sale price
$545,000
−0.2% YoY
Active listings · Mar 4
656
−11% YoY
Average DOM · March
97
−8.5% YoY
Q1 closed sales
507
CDAR cumulative
◦ Section 04 · Migration
Where the buyers came from.
Redfin's Q4 2025 migration report — the dataset that informs Q1 buyer behavior — placed Spokane at #7 nationwide for net inflow, with +2,924 more in-movers than out. Seattle was the #1 origin metro and Los Angeles the #1 out-of-state.
Kootenai County's population grew 1.81% in 2025 — among Idaho's top three counties for growth — and 93% of that growth came from net in-migration rather than births. Spokane County added roughly 7,400 new residents, a 1.2% gain.
The brokerage-level story is the same one we've heard at every kitchen table since 2023: equity in coastal markets, no state income tax in Idaho, and a sense that the Inland Northwest still has the kind of room you can't engineer back into a denser metro.
- 01 Seattle WA #1 origin metro into Spokane
- 02 Los Angeles CA #1 out-of-state origin
- 03 San Francisco CA California Bay outflow
- 04 Portland OR Cross-Cascades movers
- 05 Boise ID In-state ID shift north
◦ Section 05 · Property tax
$4,000 a year — at the same address.
For families weighing the state line, this is the single most consequential math problem of the move. On a $750,000 owner- occupied home, the difference between Spokane County and Kootenai County is about 2.1× — driven by Washington's effective rate and Idaho's homestead exemption.
Idaho
Kootenai County
≈ 0.60%
effective rate, homestead applied
Homestead exemption50% up to $125,000
State income taxNo SS tax · 5.8% top
Taxable basis$625,000
On a $750,000 home
$3,750/yr
Rates blend county base + school + fire + EMS levies and vary by parcel. Idaho's homestead applies only to the primary residence and is capped at $125,000 (Idaho State Tax Commission). For a personalized quote, ask for the exact taxing district and prior-year levy on the listing.
◦ Section 06 · Luxury & waterfront
The luxury tier outperformed.
Counterintuitive given the rate story, but the data is consistent: $1M+ closings moved faster than the mid-tier through Q1, with eight of the top ten 2024 Spokane sales transacting all-cash. Spokane's top sale in 2024 was an $8.4 million Spokane Valley estate at 16811 E Wellesley; twenty-six homes traded above $1.5M; nine above $2M.
On the waterfront, Coeur d'Alene listed roughly 79 lakefront homes at quarter-end, median list $649,000; broader waterfront-property average list $1.39M. Hayden Lake inventory remained thin — six to seven listings, entry roughly $900,000, with several properties stretching into the multi-million tier (7566 E Gem Shores Rd, listed at $7.75M, set the high mark).
"A $2 million home is what would have been a $1 million home before the pandemic."
◦ Section 07 · What we're watching
Three signals for Q2.
-
01
Whether 6% holds, or 5% returns.
NAR's revised 2026 forecast assumes rates plateau in the mid-6s through summer. A second 5-handle window — even a short one — would re-trigger the same demand surge we saw in late February. The opposite scenario (sustained 7%+) risks pushing Spokane's median negative on a YoY basis, following Kootenai's lead.
-
02
Whether inventory normalizes — or stays asymmetric.
Spokane's 25% listings bump in February is healthy; if it carries through Q2, expect days-on-market to tick up and sale-to-list to drift further below 100%. Coeur d'Alene faces the opposite problem: until new construction matches in-migration, headline median can soften while individual quality homes still see multiple offers.
-
03
Whether the WA-to-ID flow accelerates.
Washington's 2025 capital-gains legislation is a slow- moving variable; we hear it in conversation, we don't yet see it in Redfin's migration dataset at scale. If it shows up in the Q2 Redfin report, expect Kootenai inventory pressure to intensify and Liberty Lake to absorb the bleed across the border.
◦ Methodology & sources
How we built this report.
Median and inventory figures come from the Spokane Association of REALTORS (SAR) monthly reports and the Coeur d'Alene Regional REALTORS (CDAR) market updates, with quarterly aggregates verified against Redfin and FRED where SAR/CDAR only publish monthly snapshots. Mortgage rates are Freddie Mac PMMS weekly survey. Migration ranks are Redfin Q4 2025 net-inflow data. Population is the Washington Office of Financial Management and the Idaho Department of Labor.
Property-tax figures are illustrative for a $750,000 owner- occupied single-family home; actual taxes depend on parcel- level taxing district (school, fire, EMS, urban services).
Source list (12)
- Spokesman-Review · "From a seller's market to a buyer's" · Apr 5, 2026
- Coeur d'Alene Press · "Median home price declines" · Apr 20, 2026
- Spokane REALTORS · Market Activity Report (monthly)
- Coeur d'Alene Regional REALTORS · Market Data
- Freddie Mac PMMS · Primary Mortgage Market Survey
- Redfin · Q4 2025 Migration Report
- Redfin · Spokane Housing Market
- Redfin · Coeur d'Alene Housing Market
- WA OFM · 2025 April 1 Population Trends
- Spokane County · 2026 Property Tax Levy Decision
- Idaho State Tax Commission · Homeowner's Exemption
- Spokane Journal of Business · "Few changes expected for INW real estate market"
Have a property in the data? Let's talk numbers.
If you're weighing a Q2 listing or buy, we'll pull the parcel-level comps and the levy that goes with it.