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This report takes a journey through all aspects of housing markets ? dealing with demand, supply, and market outcomes. We have also included a section on needs for affordable housing and how those needs are being addressed.

This economic impact study report produced by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) - University of Montana and funded in part by a grant from the Montana Healthcare Foundation considers the potential economic impact of a state of Montana Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.
The report highlights the opportunity to use a state of Montana LIHTC program meant to "piggy back" on the Federal LIHTC program to leverage currently underutilized federal LIHTC resources and related private investment to develop and preserve additional affordable rental housing to address community housing needs across Montana.

Where Housing is Headed: How Will Today's Imbalances Be Resolved? By Patrick M. Barkey
Montanans Struggle to Access Affordable Childcare: The Crisis of Montana's Workforce By Caitlin Jenson and Tracy McIntyre
The Financial Value of Montana's Natural Beauty: How Should We Measure Our Natural Capital? By Jakki Mohr and Carmen Thissen
Housing Trouble in Paradise: Housing Needs Demand Creative Solutions By Abigail St. Lawrence

This report details the findings of an analysis of the factors and trends that impact the affordability of residential housing in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, home of the state capital, Helena. To foster a better understanding of the forces producing this outcome and inform the discussion on policies and decisions that could meaningfully affect affordability in the near future, we report on three fundamental aspects of local housing affordability. First is an assessment of the County''s affordability trends, emphasizing the rural portion of the County that overlaps with the area affected by the ten-acre minimum lot size restriction. Second is a projection of the growth of households in Lewis and Clark County and affected area one major factor in housing demand. Lastly, this report reviews the impacts of minimum lot size restrictions in other parts of the United States to see how this policy might impact the costs of new and existing housing units in the County.

Farming and Ranching: Navigating Another Drought By George Haynes and Kate Fuller
Forest Products: COVID-19 Hangover Impacts Wood Products By Steven Hayes and Todd A. Morgan
Energy Montana's Energy and Minerals Future By Bill Whitsitt
Manufacturing: Shipping and Supply Chain Are Big Concerns By Robert Sonora
Travel, Tourism and Recreation: Staffing Shortages Cause Concern By Jeremy Sage
Health Care: COVID-19 Drives Exodus of Health Care Workers By Robert Sonora
Real Estate and Construction: Boom or Bubble? By Derek Sheehan
Transportation and Logistics: The Roller Coaster Ride Continues By Simona Stan
Technology and Innovation: Pandemic Has Not Slowed Montana's Growing Tech Sector By Christina Quick Henderson

Are concerns about a housing shortage and the inability of working families to find reasonably priced housing in Montana related to COVID-19 migration?

Affordable housing is an increasingly difficult problem for many Montana communities. With relatively few affordable homes available for households earning a low income, and with much of the existing affordable inventory ageing and in need of rehabilitation, many households earning a low income are being priced out of housing markets. Highly cost-burdened households experience many difficulties with regards to health and well-being outcomes, educational attainment of minors, employment opportunities, etc., while those households priced completely out of the market experience the unending difficulties associated with homelessness. The difficulties of being highly cost-burdened or homeless extend from the individuals directly involved to the communities where they live. This imposes costs on community hospitals, schools, criminal justice efforts, infrastructure upkeep, and many other community institutions. Reducing these costs will be an increasingly pressing problem moving forward.

Overcoming the Pandemic: With the welcome news of real progress on the deployment of an effective COVID-19 vaccine and the conclusion of a bitter political election comes a tentative new optimism for the economy in 2021. IHS Market, a global forecasting company, now projects a return to the U.S. economy''s pre-pandemic growth path by the end of 2021, a significant revision from the more pessimistic assessments being made last summer.

Farming and Ranching - A Year of Volatile Commodity Prices and Near-Record Stimulus Payments Forest Products - Montana Wood Products in the Time of COVID-19 Energy - The COVID-19 Recession Impacts Prices Manufacturing - Continued Growth Is Interrupted by the Pandemic Travel, Tourism and Recreation - Crowds Flock To Montana During COVID Summer Transportation and Logistics - 2020 Was a Year of Disruption Health Care - COVID-19 Alters Health Care Landscape Technology and Innovation - Remote Work, Zoom Towns and a Spotlight on Biotech Real Estate and Construction - The Seller''s Market Continues

Home prices in Missoula have seen their largest jump in a decade, making it harder for residents to find affordable living situations.

How we work is rapidly changing as we approach the fourth industrial revolution. What can Montanans expect in this new world of work?

This article looks at nine of Montana''s key industries; Farming and Ranching: Price Declines and Exports Make for a Challenging Year, Forest Products: Positive Signs for Montana, Energy: What to Watch for in 2020, Manufacturing: Montana Outpaces Nation as a Whole, Travel, Tourism and Recreation: Nonresident Visitation Stable, Health Care: The Impact of Medicaid Expansion, Transportation and Logistics: A Shortage of Drivers Continues to Cause Concern, Technology and Innovation: Record Revenue, Jobs and Venture Capital Investment, Real Estate and Construction: Housing Markets Lack Inventory.

There is a growing divide between homeowners and renters in Missoula. The percentage of renters who are cost-burdened climbed to 49 percent.

As we work toward solutions in Montana, high housing costs are emerging as a significant public policy issue.

While Montana is facing an affordable housing crisis, it''s also seen a surge in short-term rentals, limiting options for year-round residents.

We asked speakers from the 2018 Economic Outlook Seminar to share their insights on the prospects for some key sectors of the state economy.

Buying a house in Montana can be hard. A recent Gallup study found 45 percent of Montanans were dissatisfied with the availability of good affordable housing. Can we make housing affordable in Montana?

In Montana today, 19 percent of children live in poverty, while 28 percent of parents lack secure employment. Affordable housing has become an important topic in cities like Missoula and Bozeman. But the issues surrounding poverty for Montana families have been long-standing, as seen in this excerpt from the Montana Business Quarterly in 1965.

Missoula is a great place - the natural beauty and wealth of available activities are two aspects that have brought consistent population growth to the area. But a large proportion of Missoula households, both renters and owners, are financially burdened by the costs of housing.

Median earnings for Montana workers over age 24 are $31,800 and places Montana 45th among all states. How can Montana increase wages and develop a robust knowledge economy of skilled workers?

The big story is Montana''s economy coming into balance; both geographically and across industries. Three or four years ago, commodity prices were high and oil was booming. That, along with high agriculture prices, made for faster growth in rural counties, primarily eastern counties, rather than in bigger cities.

In spite of the global financial markets and economic concerns, the U.S. economy continues to grow. When it comes to determining the strength of the economy, the housing market is a true litmus test of the economic health of a community.

Since 2010, real estate markets are returning to health, and housing prices have been moving up again in most Montana markets. And those prices are pushing beyond, in some cases, what median income Montana households can comfortably afford. The biggest disparities are arising in the rental markets, which have seen higher demand as homeownership rates continue to slide downwards. But single family home prices have been rising fast as well, especially in the western half of the state.

A wide-ranging discussion covering economic topics of interest. The discussions include: the Economy, Healthcare, Tourism and Recreation, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Forest Products, Housing, and Energy. A panel of industry experts and economists provide their responses to important questions regarding Montana?s economy.

This article examines property taxes in Montana''s largest urban areas - Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, and Missoula. Tax rates - also known as mill levies - are the highest in Missoula and lowest in Bozeman.

The Department of Revenue revalues - or reappraises - residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and forest properties once every six years. The department uses three approaches to valuing property: sales comparison, cost, and income.

As we assess Montana''s economy, new data call into question two trends: the stronger than average performance of our state economic and the natural resource boom that has played such an important part in that performance. There are signs that grow in Montana''s economy has been slowing, and it''s important to take these trends into account.

Q&A with Montana''s leading economists and industry experts on economic issues facing Montana.

Recent economic statistics demonstrate Ravalli County''s economy is emerging from the downturn experienced in the Great Recession.

Migration had dramatic impacts on Montana during the past two decades, affecting the total population, its distribution between rural and urban areas, and composition by age, including school-age populations.

Q & A with Bureau economists and industry experts throughout the state about the latest economic trends and forecasts, as well as the outlook for Montana's important sectors.

A lot of things started to fall into place for the recovering Montana economy in 2012. We estimate that the state economy grew by about 2.7 percent in 2012.

Ravalli County's economy appears to be coming out of the Great Recession, albeit slowly. The real estate market has stabilized with the number of residential real estate sales in 2012 increasing over 2011 levels. Prices are about the same, but days on market increased slightly over 2011 levels.

The 2011 national high school graduation rate was 75 percent. The remaining 25 percent, about 1.2 million high school seniors across the country, did not attain a high school diploma.

This report assesses housing affordability, and analyzes the factors affecting the cost of housing in major real estate markets within Montana.

Three years into its real estate slump, Montana's housing markets do not yet show definitive signs of improvement. The symptoms of the real estate malaise differ in their severity across the state, but they are depressingly familiar to all: soft or declining prices for new and existing homes, increased time on market for homes offered for sale, and continued low levels of new home construction activity.

Vacation homes are a major part of several Montana communities, and the numbers have increased; however, most of the growth occurred before the recession. Sales of vacation homes have been nearly nonexistent the last couple of years.

This is the sixth annual report to the community on housing in the city and county of Missoula. This report provides a gauge of the overall health of Missoula real estate and indicates real estate''s impacts on the overall local economy.

Despite efforts by the federal government to increase home sales in 2010, the U.S. housing market continued to contract, with home sales declining by one-quarter. At the same time, the average number of homes offered for sale each month increased by one-half.

It has been a shaky year for Montana's housing sector. Montana is experiencing many of the problems facing the rest of the nation, albeit to a lesser degree. Home prices are declining in some parts of state. Sales and construction are both down relative to previous years. Mortgage defaults are growing, but are still lower than the national average.

Housing prices in the last 20 years have surged ahead much faster than the income used to pay them. Over the span of time that the median price for a Montana home grew by 96 percent, the per capita income of Montanans only rose by about a quarter as much, or 26 percent. Housing costs are pushing the limits of Montanans' pocketbooks, with four markets (Kalispell, Bozeman, Missoula, and Hamilton) failing the housing affordability criterion.

From its peak in 2005 to 2006, the Montana housing market has slowed considerably, but in general, home prices continue to hold. A few of the counties that saw the most rapid run-up in sales and prices are now experiencing price declines, but overall, the value of typical Montana homes continues to grow.

This is an assessment of housing affordability and factors affecting the cost of housing for the major real estate markets within Montana.

The near meltdown of the housing finance industry has sent shock waves through the nation's economy. While Montana hasn't experienced the number of mortgage foreclosures or other financial disasters as some states, it has been a tough year for the state's housing industry.

Nationwide, roughly 6 percent of homes are in developments behind walls and fences. Predominantly out-of-state investment has brought this trend to Montana. In 1990 only 276 houses in Montana were worth $300,000 or more according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2000, the Bureau had to add a whole new category: homes costing $1 million or more. Author Amy Joyner gives readers a glimpse of life in some of Montana''s most luxurious and exclusive communities. From the Yellowstone Club to the Ridge Above Rock Creek, Joyner describes life behind the gates.