Pine Brook Estate Real Estate Newsletter. March 11th, 2026

Welcome to the first real estate newsletter of 2026 for Pine Brook! For those who are just reading for the first time, this is a quarterly newsletter posted to benefit those within our

community by keeping them up to date on market trends, sales data, legislative changes, and anything else that can affect anything real estate related for the neighborhood. Additionally for those just joining for the first time, a quick note about me the author: My name is Parker Stevens and I am a real estate broker with Realty Quest here in town. I also own property in Pine Brook. My wife and I own the lot that borders the future community park and we should be breaking ground any day now as we are just waiting on our bank to finalize our financing. Professionally I just about exclusively focus on Madison and Fremont counties to be able to better serve the people here with the most up to date local knowledge. With that being said, let's get to covering what's happened over the past three months real estate wise in the neighborhood.

Key Stats for the past 3 months for Pine Brook

• Number of homes currently for sale in the division: 7

• Price per square foot of homes currently listed for sale: $225.54

• Number of vacant land parcels listed for sale: 2

• Number of homes sold in the past 3 months: 0

• Average sales price of homes sold in the past 3 months: N/A

• Price per square foot of homes sold in the past 3 months: N/A

• Average days on market for sold homes: N/A

• Sold price as a percentage of list price: N/A

As you can see, not much has happened in the past few months in the neighborhood in terms of movement of inventory. This follows the area trend of slower market conditions over winter (we do live in Idaho after all). I expect things to pick up significantly as we move into spring. Thus far for 2026, we are seeing market activity overall across Rexburg be higher than it was at this time last year.

Legislative Changes: Senate Bill 1222 Signed Into Law.

On February 18, 2026, Governor Little signed Senate Bill 1222 into law, updating Idaho’s domestic well exemption rules in response to negative impacts from ambiguous language included in Senate Bill 1083a passed during the 2025 legislative session. In 2025, Senate Bill 1083a altered how the domestic well exemption applied in subdivisions located within groundwater-restricted areas (which includes essentially the entire upper snake river plain). Prior to 2025, homeowners could drill a domestic well and use up to 13,000 gallons per day, including irrigating up to half an acre, without obtaining a recorded water right. However, a June 25th, 2025 Administrator’s Memorandum from the Idaho Department of Water Resources interpreted the 2025 law to mean that domestic wells first used on or after July 1, 2025 in subdivisions were limited to “in-home use” only, preventing irrigation for lawns, gardens, or landscaping without obtaining a formal groundwater right. This interpretation applied regardless of when the subdivision was created and even to wells drilled earlier but not yet used, leaving many property owners unable to irrigate their property unless they could secure scarce groundwater rights. Many stakeholders, including the Idaho Water Users Association, argued this interpretation exceeded the legislature’s intent, which they believed was meant to apply only to new developments. Senate Bill 1222 addresses this issue by clarifying that the irrigation restrictions apply only to subdivisions platted on or after July 1, 2025, meaning lots in subdivisions created before that date can once again irrigate lawns using a domestic well, restoring what many view as the original intent of the law and reducing the significant impacts the prior interpretation had on property rights and the vacant land market.

You may be wondering, how does this apply to Pine Brook at all given that we are on city water and sewer? Ultimately the impacts of these changes to Idaho code go far beyond the direct impacts upon those whose only means of irrigation are a well. Ultimately, property values will continue to climb. I believe that most people are not going to want to buy a building lot unless they know that they can have water for irrigation to that building lot. Because of this, developers will be required to put in some sort of delivery system to provide irrigation water to the lots. In most cases, these will be pressurized irrigation systems which are very costly to install. Additionally, the developer will almost have to acquire surface water rights when purchasing the land where previously the farmer or seller may have been able to retain those water rights. If sellers are parting with those water rights, they will certainly want to be paid a premium for them by the developer which will lead to higher acquisition costs that then gets passed onto the end consumer. Now mack to how this affects places line Pine Brook which is not subject to the new restrictions. You may have heard the phrase that "all boats rise with the tide." This is essentially how the impacts of this bill will reach Pine Brook. As vacant land prices climb as a result of these new regulations, demand for property in places like Pine Brook that are not subject to these new restrictions will rise in response, thus leading to prices rising for properties that are not subject to these restrictions as well. I expect property values in Pine Brook to increase as a result of this legislations.

If you would like to read more about Senate Bill 1222, you can access my full write up discussing it by clicking the link here: https://www.pstevensrealestate.com/post/idaho-legislature-makes-changes-regarding-the-domestic-use-exemption-and-irrigating-from-a-well-sen

What is going on with interest rates compared to a few months ago?

Rates are pretty similar compared with where they were during our last update but have improved on average across some typical programs. The average 30 year conventional mortgage is still sitting right around 6.125%. Conventional rates had dropped some and were on a downward trend as recently as a few weeks ago but seemingly jumped up in response to changing market conditions resulting from the Iran conflict. Rounding out other notable program averages are 5.625% for 30 year FHA loans, 5.375% for 15 year conventional notes, and 5.625% for VA loans.

What will happen moving forward? Ultimately it is anyone's guess. Unemployment rates have risen quite a bit in economic reports but gas prices are surging and driving up the inflation index on the flip side. My guess is that we will stay right around this rate for the foreseeable future with the potential to decrease by possibly up to a quarter point by year end.

Turnover rate: definition and where Pine Brook stands compared to the national average.

In real estate, the turnover rate is a percentage that indicates how quickly homes are bought and sold within a specific area. It's calculated by dividing the number of homes (or properties if vacant land is included) sold in a given period (typically 1 year) by the total number of homes in that area, then multiplying by 100. A higher turnover rate generally suggests a more active market which can be better for both buyers and sellers.

There are 124 properties (homes & vacant land parcels) within Pine Brook Estates between Pine Brook 1 and 2. During the past 12 months 5 properties have sold (all homes)

(5/124) x 100 = 4.03% turnover rate in Pine Brook for the past year.

How does this stack up against average turnover rates? Turnover rates nationally tend to average between 2.5% to 5% on any given year with 2025's annual turnover rate coming in at 2.8%. This means that the market activity for the neighborhood as a whole is still higher than the current national average with market activity remaining strong for Pinebrook despite no sales during the past 3 months.

Thanks for reading! If you have any specific questions regarding real estate in the neighborhood or the valley, feel free to give me a call at (208) 281-7258. I am always happy to chat.