> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.rangemedia.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# This is healthy: real estate edition
- URL: https://www.rangemedia.co/this-is-healthy-real-estate-edition/
- Published: 2021-05-20T05:15:15.000Z
- Updated: 2021-05-20T05:15:15.000Z
- Description: Real estate reporting isn't my biggest interest, and it's definitely not RANGE's beat, but the Inland Northwest is in the midst of an extreme housing crunch that's beginning to affect people's ability to even survive — and that is definitely our beat.
- Author: Luke Baumgarten
- Tags: Housing, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-02-19 03:03

Real estate reporting isn't my biggest interest, and it's definitely not RANGE's beat, but the Inland Northwest is in the midst of an extreme housing crunch that's beginning to affect people's ability to even survive — and **that** is definitely our beat.

It's not breaking news that the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene housing markets are absurdly hot. Hotter than any time in our young lives (40 is young, shut up), and at the [very top of emerging markets in America](https://www.wsj.com/articles/lakeside-idaho-city-is-americas-hottest-housing-market-in-new-wsj-realtor-com-index-11619515802?mod=article%5Finline&ref=rangemedia.co) (read about the [the methodology here](https://www.wsj.com/articles/emerging-housing-markets-index-wsj-realtor-com-11619483158?ref=rangemedia.co)), but many Spokies are still coming to terms with what it means for those of us who have lived here our whole lives (and who have jobs that pay Spokane market rates).

We have lots of friends who wonder if they'll ever be able to buy a new house. Some younger folks have given up on ever being able to buy at all. **It's like, what is this, Seattle?**

A lot of our Seattle friends don't get that part. Houses aren't *that* expensive. Well, depends on the lens.

Given the top-level housing prices, Spokane is still lower than almost any market on either coast, and not hugely out of step with national averages, so it's sometimes hard for people from those markets — like, ahem, many of the folks who might be moving here — to understand just how disruptive the market is for people who have lived in the Inland Northwest their whole lives.

While it's true that Spokane's $325,000 median home price is only about 7% above the national average of $304,000, $325k is 20% higher than it was **last year**. That's a difference of over $50,000\. In one year.

And [as the Spokesman-Review noted in March](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/mar/16/spokane-countys-median-home-price-soars-to-325000-/?ref=rangemedia.co), that money ain't exactly buying cute bungalos on the South Hill: "for $329,900, homebuyers can purchase a three-bedroom, two-bath home with a two-car garage in Airway Heights."

If you don't understand the joke here, you're probably one of the people driving up housing prices (let's just say [don't drink the water](https://www.khq.com/news/airway-heights-water-crisis-lawmakers-working-to-correct-short-term-fix-for-long-term-problem/article%5F4d0ca44e-7e1b-11eb-a4dc-8fa26a857394.html?ref=rangemedia.co)).

And plus, Spokane is a relatively low-wage market, so these prices are felt exponentially by citizens of a city making, on average, [barely half of Seattle and with a median household income $10,000 below the national average](https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/spokane%5Fwa/seattle%5Fwa/economy?ref=rangemedia.co). So that's the disconnect.

But then comes a story so patently absurd that everyone can understand. The story of the Stair House. We almost missed it when the headlines looked like this:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/35/e7/35e7a6d5-1d7d-405c-9ee3-dce92dfd190f/content/images/rangemedia-co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/f5499b67-ca6b-4235-95c4-ae03c28f8302_1360x1030.png)

All these stories buried the lede a bit.

Again: Real Estate isn't RANGE's beat. Neither is ugly architecture.

We only noticed it today, when the Stair House came back on our radar, this time with a headline that doesn't completely bury the lede:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/35/e7/35e7a6d5-1d7d-405c-9ee3-dce92dfd190f/content/images/rangemedia-co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/8c8c8b0b-061f-4ed3-8fae-4036efbdb697_1510x268.png)

That’s more like it.

God bless you, [Idaho Statesman](https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/nation-world/national/article251065679.html?ref=rangemedia.co), for drawing my attention to the perfect dumpster fire to symbolize our overheated housing market.

The property doesn’t even have running water.

And while this is all hilarious, and ridiculous, it’s having real world consequences up and down the housing market that — as this week’s guest on [the podcast](https://www.rangemedia.co/housing-first/) told us — is literally pushing people into homelessness and endangering their lives.

So yeah, whether it’s $329k for a home with poisoned ground water or **three-quarters-of-a-million** for a house with plenty of lake but zero bathrooms:

#### **This market is definitely healthy.**