Unaffordable Housing: Four Montana Counties, Including the Flathead, Dubbed Unaffordable

BOZEMAN – A report from the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research says that four Montana counties fail to provide affordable housing.

The report in the summer issue of the Montana Business Quarterly says the markets in Flathead, Missoula, Ravalli and Gallatin counties aren't affordable. That means the median-income household in the Kalispell, Missoula, Bozeman and Hamilton areas couldn't afford the payment on a median-priced home in 2007 without devoting a high portion of their income.

Patrick Barkey, the director of the bureau, says the recent slump in the real estate market is not necessarily helping, since incomes are going down as well.