Who is buying North Idaho homes?
Janke
Compared to the nationwide median, Idaho residents are 11.1% more likely to own their homes, data from iPropertyManagement.com shows — but who is buying houses in North Idaho in 2025?
Jared Janke with Alliance Title and Escrow in Coeur d’Alene has noticed a few trends among area homebuyers.
“We see mostly couples and families purchasing currently,” Janke said. “(There’s also a) large group of 60 and older retiree couples moving here from other states like California, Washington and Oregon.”
According to data from the Department of Motor Vehicles provided by Janke, Idaho registered 14,976 new residents from California, 10,023 from Washington, and 4,867 from Oregon.
“It seems folks are working and making their living in larger cities in other states and then deciding to retire here in North Idaho,” Janke said.
Janke also said that rural properties are becoming more popular, such as those in the area of Rathdrum, Spirit Lake, and Athol.
Such properties are “very tough” to find in the Coeur d’Alene city limits, Janke added.
“When folks are considering a move to Idaho, they have an ‘Idaho ideal’ in their heads of what that looks like: a home with acreage, a shop, etcetera,” Janke said.
These properties are also not typically part of a homeowners association with CCRs (covenants, conditions, and restrictions).
Though 72.5% of households in Idaho own their homes, there remains a sizeable portion of the population that rents their home — 27.5% of Idaho households are renters, iPropertyManagement.com data shows.
Renters are increasingly competing with investor groups and private equity firms for rental properties nationwide: a 2022 forecast from MetLife Investment Management estimated that institutional investors may control up to 40% of U.S. single-family homes by 2030, equating to 7.6 million homes.
Data suggests that this can lead an increase in price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios, which ultimately impacts affordability and competition among renters.
Janke said that though investor groups are buying properties in North Idaho, the bulk of real estate purchases are still being done by individuals and families.
“We do have investor groups and individuals that will scoop up properties quickly if they see potential rental or VRBO possibilities,” Janke said. “(But) most of our transactions that we see on a day-to-day basis are folks purchasing primary residences.”
