SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Real estate agents says the hot housing market in South Dakota’s larger cities has spilled over to the state’s more rural areas.
While the competition is the highest in Sioux Falls and Rapid City where prices have increased about 20% over last year, the rural real estate market is also changing.
“It just seems like these days it doesn’t really matter where it is, homes values are increasing and they’re selling and people are looking to move and they like to move to South Dakota,” said Fischer Rounds Real Estate broker Micah Volmer.
In the past, home sellers in small farming communities across the state had trouble finding a buyer.
“Historically buyers had a lot of the negotiating power in that market too, now it’s completely different,” Priority Real Estate & Development owner Christa Helma said.
“We had multiple offers within a week of listing,” Volmer said of a property in Kimball. She tells KELO-TV her rural listings near Pierre and Mitchell are now seeing far more competition.
“They are definitely selling a lot quicker than they used to,” Volmer said.
A starter home in Alexandria, a community of 800 people, sold for $115,000 last year after sitting 97 days on the market. Volmer said it was recently relisted for $185,000 and had a sale pending after five days on the market.
Helma said when the coronavirus pandemic hit, people wanted to get away from the bigger cities.
“A lot of people can work from home now,” she said.