The total number of homes sold in 2018 fell by about 4 percent from the year before to 1,482. And in price ranges most people can afford, the availability is falling fast.

“At this point last year there were 93 listings under $275,000,” Wahlberg explained. “Our active listings under $275,000 right now is just 53 total. The amount of competitive activity you see is what’s pushing these prices. The prime market below $175,000 has just one month of listed supply, so anything between $150,000 and $275,000 is a seller’s market.”

And while affordability is getting easier for homeowners due to higher wages, it’s worsening for the half of Missoula County that rents.

Jim McGrath of the Missoula Housing Authority said that while incomes for homeowners in Missoula increased 17.5 percent in 2017 to $76,000, renter incomes decreased 4.5 percent to $28,800. Approximately 49 percent of people within Missoula’s city limits rent, he said.

“When we are talking about half of our community with rising incomes and half of our community with lowering incomes, I take note of that,” he said.

The percentage of renters in Missoula who are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their take-home pay on housing, climbed from 41 percent to 49 percent, he added.