The ‘frozen’ Montana housing market

The ‘frozen’ Montana housing market

Looking at Montana compared to its neighboring states shows that while the state is facing similar trends, several of its unique aspects help explain why affordable housing is more acute.

The 'frozen' Montana housing market • Daily Montanan

Photo illustration by Getty Images.BOZEMAN— If you could pick only one statistic to illustrate Montana’s lack of affordable housing, it may be this: Roughly 80% of mortgage holders in the Treasure State have rates that are 2% to 3% below the current mortgage rates. That means that unless a property owner is forced to move, it usually doesn’t make any sense to buy a different house — just the interest rates alone would mean hundreds of dollars mo…