No, Victor is not the “wealthiest” zip code in Idaho
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Victor is the wealthiest zipcode in the state. That was the message from a recent report cited by Idaho area newspapers.
The headline was surprising to many, and with good reason: it wasn’t true.
According to the report by GoBankingRates.com, which ran on the website of Time Magazine in March, Victor, Idaho is the most expensive zipcode in the state, with a median home value of just shy of $350,000. However, that report missed the mark.
The number cited for Victor is accurate, but it’s a long way from the highest.
True, the Victor figure beats out most areas of Idaho including the Boise suburbs and the north Idaho resort town of Coeur d’Alene. The data for the article comes from Zillow.com, which describes itself as “the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge.” However there is some reason to doubt the GoBankingRates’ interpretation of the housing price information.
“I’ve seen it floating around and thought, ‘no way,” said former Victor Mayor and current real estate agent Zach Smith.
His instincts were right. The data left out at least one wealthy area of Idaho: Sun Valley.
The Time article used Zillow’s proprietary Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) to come to its conclusion. The index was created to help make a more accurate figure for the value of the entire housing stock in an area compared to just the average sale price, or the average listed price.
That more complex statistic requires more data than just figuring an average sale price and not every area has the available statistics required to come up with a ZHVI.
One of those areas is Sun Valley, so it was left off the list.
“Particularly in high-end communities and in non-disclosure states, it’s harder to get that data,” said Senior Economist with Zillow, Aaron Terrazas. (Most states require that the sale price of home be made public. Idaho does not.)
A spokesperson for Zillow said GoBankingRates.com did not collaborate with them on the story.
And while Zillow doesn’t have a home value number for Sun Valley, it does have a median price of homes listed as for sale, which is $745,000. According to Citydata.com, the estimated median house or condo value in 2015 for Sun Valley was $685,828. Even the two year old figure puts the median price well above Victor’s $350,000.
Just because Victor doesn’t have the highest home values in the state, doesn’t mean the homes are cheap.
“The problem is we have limited supply,” said Smith.
The city commissioned a housing needs study, which was released in 2014. It said that the median listed price for the entire county was just shy of $400,000, which would only be affordable for households making double the area’s median income of $54,903. Further it said that at the time of the study only seven of the homes for sale in the county were affordable to low and very low-income residents.
The Time article also notes that while $349,500 is expensive, it doesn’t match the Victor’s previous peak of $400,000 reached in 2009 during the last days of the housing boom.
Smith said homes in the $300,000 range are disappearing fast, and that, unlike during the boom, people want to buy lots inside the city, free from the restrictions of subdivisions.
“People just want housing,” he said.
This article was originally published in the Teton Valley News. It is used here with permission.