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Idaho real estate agent salaries have soared in recent years, even as job growth in the state has been sluggish.
But the rising cost of living in the U.S. has made it harder for people to make ends meet, especially for people with children, according to a new study from the National Association of Realtors.
The association surveyed the median salary of real estate agents across the country to determine how much they were making and how much more they were getting paid.
Idaho is the first state in the nation to use the National Salary Survey to track how the cost of housing, groceries, food, transportation, utilities and other expenses in a state compare to other states.
The median salary for Idaho realtor was $79,500 in 2016, according the association’s report, the highest in the country.
That was up 3.6 percent from the year before, but was still less than half the national median of $104,000.
Idaho was a net seller of homes in 2016 for the fifth straight year, and was up 8.6 percentage points from the previous year, when sales fell 2.2 percent.
That is the third straight year Idaho has posted net sales growth, according it.
The study also showed that Idaho realtors reported spending more than $9,000 a year to make a typical home purchase, up from $7,500 a year in 2016.
In addition, realtor salaries in Idaho increased by about 7.2 percentage points between 2016 and 2017.
The median annual salary for a realtor in Idaho is now $93,000, up 7.3 percent from 2016.
The national median salary rose to $76,700 in 2017, up 4.7 percent from $69,600 in 2016 and $70,400 in 2015.
The average salary in the top 10 states for agents in 2017 was $104 of the median, according.
But the median for Idaho home sales has dropped since the recession, to $67,600 from $68,600.
The National Association for Realtor president, Craig Karpowitz, said the data shows the housing market is becoming more affordable for people.
He said the state needs to focus on its affordable housing efforts, especially in areas where housing costs have risen and are unaffordable.
Karpov said the real estate market is not the only area where affordability is an issue, but it’s important to consider other areas.
“The affordability issue is real and it’s really something we’re trying to address,” Karpowicz said.
“That includes housing, affordability, transit, utilities, roads and bridges.
We need to be mindful of our other areas of responsibility as well.”
The median house price in Idaho was $1,932,000 in 2017.
It’s up 8 percent from a year ago, and has increased nearly 13 percentage points since 2008.
In Idaho, average house prices rose 6.7 percentage points to $3,865,000 over the past five years.
The most affordable states for real estate were Alabama ($79,600), Alaska ($75,000), Hawaii ($75