When it comes to expensive houses, this Boise-area suburb is king. Why is it so popular?

It might be surprising that some of the biggest cities in Idaho don’t have the ritziest homes.

No, for that you need to go to Eagle. With just over 35,000 residents, according to the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, Eagle has five of the six most expensive homes ever sold in the Treasure Valley.

That sixth home? It’s not in Boise, Meridian, Nampa or Caldwell. It’s in Star.

All six of these homes found new buyers in 2022 and 2023, and all had sales pending within three months of hitting the market — remarkably fast by historic Boise-area standards for the sales of seven-figure houses.

And sales of these super-high-end homes are picking up, according to Matt Bauscher, owner of Bauscher Real Estate and founding partner at Amherst Madison Real Estate Advisors. Bauscher sold a newly built $5.2 million home near Farmers Union Canal north of Eagle in April.

“It used to be rare for a million-dollar home to sell,” Bauscher said by phone. “We’ve come a long way.”

In 2019, there were only three sales over the $3 million mark in the Treasure Valley, he said. That number increased to 22 in 2023, with five at or above $5 million.

“There’s a huge desire for luxury communities that has never existed since I was born here,” Bauscher said.

The median price for a newly built house in Eagle was slightly under $965,000 in 2023, according to the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service or IMLS. The only places in Ada County with a higher median price for newly built houses was in Boise’s historic North End at $1.1 million and the Northeast neighborhood, which includes Warm Springs and the Barber Valley, at $1.7 million. Eagle had more than four times more homes built, 224, than the 52 in those Boise neighborhoods combined.

The median price for an existing house in Eagle was higher than in any other neighborhood in Ada or Canyon counties in 2023, clocking in at $826,000, according to the IMLS. The median was just under $525,000 in Ada County and $400,000 in Canyon County.

“(Eagle is) pretty much where we’re building the higher-end real estate,” said April Rinehart of Keller Williams Realty Boise. Rinehart focuses on luxury listings in the Treasure Valley and McCall.

The Treasure Valley luxury real estate market is hot. These Boise-area homes top the list

Out-of-state homebuyers take the lead

Six agents sold the top six houses. Most of them noted that interest in recent years has come from out-of-state buyers. But, according to Brett Hughes of Boise Premier Real Estate, interest from out-of-state buyers is slightly leveling off.

“The people who wanted to escape (already) did,” Hughes said by phone.

He noted that it’s difficult to get exact numbers, as many new Idahoans in search of luxury homes find rentals for the first six months while they look for permanent homes. But most interest is still coming from out-of-state buyers.

Kate Gruber, of Silvercreek Realty Group, said all the buyers interested in a 2012-built, $6.2 million home she sold in Eagle’s Two Rivers neighborhood in September were from out of state. Many of those buying and moving to these homes, she said, are coming from cities where homes can easily sell for multimillions.

The market has stayed hot because many luxury buyers can avoid high interest rates by buying homes with cash, Gruber said. The good ones go fast if they’re priced right.

“Buyers are savvy,” she said. “They know what makes sense and they know quality.”

Homebuyers look for more land, privacy

Eagle can be an attractive option for out-of-state buyers who have never owned land before, Rinehart said. Rinehart broke the record for the most expensive home sold in the Treasure Valley when she sold a 2015-built, $6.4 million home in August in Eagle’s Two Rivers neighborhood, just north of BanBury Golf Course. The home is less than a quarter-mile from the one Gruber sold.

“(Buyers) love Eagle just because it’s new construction … and you get some land with it, some privacy,” Rinehart said by phone.

Much of the cost for these homes comes from expensive land prices in luxury subdivisions such as Two Rivers. Two Rivers is easy to spot on Google Maps — just follow Highway 55 north until you see hundreds of large homes built around human-made lakes.

“It’s such a beautiful setting,” Rinehart said. “People are paying a premium for those lots.”

Two Rivers is on Eagle Island, where the Boise River splits in two and surrounds the island. An Eagle Island lot listed on Realtor.com as of Tuesday, with 1.8 acres and 300 feet of frontage on the river’s southern side, was offered for $2.2 million. The lot is about 1½ miles from Two Rivers.

Bigger lots make it easier to understand why Eagle has the most expensive homes, Hughes said.

“People want that little bit of escape,” he said.

There are also more options in Eagle for land and amenities than in Boise, Bauscher said. Much of the most desirable property in Boise is along the Foothills or along the Boise River. But there are topography problems in the Foothills and smaller lots along the river.

“People can get exactly what they want out (in Eagle) because of land availability,” Bauscher said.

This could include private sport courts, a 25-car garage, home gyms, theaters and views of Bogus Basin — such as with Bauscher’s sale of a $5.2 million home northwest of Eagle in 2023.

But more land isn’t the only thing sending luxury buyers to Eagle, Hughes said. The area can be more predictable than Boise, where zoning can be a headache, and there won’t be as many surprises such as an apartment going in next to their new home.

“It’s a little more understood what’s going to happen,” Hughes said.

Homebuyers want special, but homey

According to Krista Coleman of Amherst-Madison Real Estate Advisors, who sold a $5.2 million home built in 2000 near Rolling Hills Vineyard north of Eagle in 2022, properties flew off the market during the COVID-19 pandemic as long as they were large enough. As the market has normalized, she said, the homes have needed to include something unique.

“As long as it feels like it’s special, it will still move,” Coleman said by phone. “(But) it has to feel like home.”

Coleman sold the home while she was with Fathom Realty. She organizes luxury home tours in the spring and fall and said the homes that don’t sell are two or more decades old and have seen no upgrades or renovations.

According to Hughes, builders have been burned several times, such as during the Great Recession, by building luxury homes without having buyers lined up beforehand. They’re more interested in building custom-built homes for specific buyers.

But, when unique resale homes that aren’t dated come online, buyers snatch them up.

“There’s not a whole lot of them,” Hughes said.

The year of 1,000 million-dollar houses? What Boise-area real estate agents say is coming

See the most expensive Boise mansion for sale now and the most expensive ever sold

Idaho population could hit 2 million any day now, passing Nebraska. Thanks, California!

The Idaho Sporting Goods store was a Boise icon. It’s now been demolished. This is why