In August 2026, Beltrami County had 4.8 months of housing supply, down from 7.6 months in August 2025. Minnesota as a whole went the other way. Statewide supply rose 9.4% to 3.5 months, and statewide inventory grew 10.3%. Bemidji-area buyers are competing harder for existing homes while much of the state gets more room. The reason is that almost no new for-sale housing is coming to market here. The projects in the local pipeline are mostly apartments, rental homes, or developments still waiting on approvals, so the gap between buyers and listings is likely to last into 2027.
Where buyers feel it first: at the offer
Before any annual report, the change shows up in how fast a home goes under contract and how close to asking price it sells. Here is August 2026 next to August 2025 for Beltrami County, with statewide figures for comparison.
| August 2026 | Beltrami County | Change from Aug. 2025 | Minnesota statewide | Change from Aug. 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days on market | 56 | down 30.0% | 51 | up 6.3% |
| Share of list price received | 97.1% | up 1.0% | 97.5% | down 0.4% |
| Months of supply | 4.8 | down 36.8% | 3.5 | up 9.4% |
| Median sale price | $300,000 | up 11.3% | $370,000 | up 2.8% |
The county is still not as tight as the state overall. At 4.8 months, Beltrami has more supply than Minnesota's 3.5. What changed is the direction. A year ago, a Bemidji-area buyer could plan on homes sitting for about 80 days and on room to negotiate below list. By August 2026, homes were selling in 56 days, and sellers were getting a full percentage point more of their original list price. On a $300,000 home, one point is about $3,000. A buyer whose plan assumes last year's pace can lose the house to a buyer who planned for this year's.
Demand is growing faster than listings
The year-to-date numbers show the cause more clearly than any single month. From January through August 2026, Beltrami County had 507 new listings, up 6.7% from the same period in 2025. Pending sales grew 19.5% to 361, and closed sales grew 19.2% to 348.
That means buyers increased about three times faster than sellers. Each new listing faced more buyers than it did a year earlier, so inventory went down while sales went up. The year-to-date median sale price rose 6.8% to $299,050, and the median days on market fell from 77 to 71.
In a market like this, new construction normally fills the gap. Builders add homes, buyers have alternatives, and resale prices stop climbing as fast. In Bemidji, that relief is mostly missing.
Very few new homes for sale
The City of Bemidji's 2024 building permit report lists 10 new residential units for the whole year, with a combined project value of $3,092,611. It shows zero new single-family attached units and zero new multifamily units. We could not find a 2025 or 2026 annual total. Dave Hengel, executive director of Greater Bemidji, described the most recent year in a September 2026 article.
"Last year, our community saw virtually no new housing development. In fact, multi-family housing development has been fairly stagnant for several years now."
In the same piece, Hengel cites U.S. Census Bureau figures showing more than 4,000 people who work in Bemidji commute from outside Beltrami County. He also cites a Maxfield Research estimate that the region needs 6,264 new housing units by 2035: 1,707 owner-occupied homes, 2,472 rentals and 2,085 senior transition units. For a buyer, the 1,707 owner-occupied homes matter most. Those are the homes that would compete with resale listings, and they make up the smallest part of what's being planned.
What the pipeline actually contains
These are the named projects in recent city and local news coverage, with the latest status we could confirm.
- Tamarack Woods Apartments, 2590 Ridgeway Ave. NW. Schuett Companies' 86-unit plan, 50 senior units and 36 multifamily units, was approved by the Planning Board in January 2026. It replaces Red Pine Estates. The January forecast was a spring 2026 start and summer 2027 completion. The city's April 2026 activity report still listed site plan review as underway. These are rentals.
- Gracewin Cooperative near Lake Irving. This is a 41-unit age-55-plus cooperative, and its residents buy in. In May 2026, the city reported that the developer had asked for a 12-month extension to reach the presales it needs before starting construction. The developer said it would look at other options for the site if those presales don't come in within a reasonable time.
- Six workforce rental homes. On October 1, 2026, Minnesota Housing awarded Bemidji $425,000 through its Workforce Housing Development Program. The city passes the money through, and Mountain View Meadows developer Mitch Rautio will build the homes, according to City Manager Rich Spiczka in the Bemidji Pioneer. No site, rents or schedule have been published.
- Al Bontrager Addition, Nymore. Northwoods Habitat for Humanity received initial planning approval in June 2026 for a 1.12-acre plat between Fourth and Fifth streets SE, next to Lake Avenue SE. More planning work is still needed, and no unit count has been released.
- The Walker, South Shore. These 32 condominiums next to Bixby Condos are by Jonzek LLC and Mrazek Construction. In December 2024, starting prices ran from $302,585 to $575,287, and completion was projected for spring 2026. We could not find any reporting that confirms the project was completed or gives current prices.
One project has left the list. The 39-unit workforce development once proposed near North Country Park lost its conditional-use permit because it didn't substantially start within the required 12 months.
Building is happening, but on a small scale. The city's May 2026 tracker shows interior work continuing on Mountain View Meadows 6-Plex #2 on Moonlight Lane SW. It also shows several Puddle Duck Properties lots on Beartooth Avenue SW and Moonlight Lane SW with exterior work or construction complete, Habitat homes on 19th and 26th streets NW, and individual new homes approved on Lake Avenue NE, Florence Lane NW and Balsam Road. These additions are counted in lots, not subdivisions, and the tracker doesn't say which homes will be sold and which will be rented.
The plan to change this is just starting
Blueprint 2035 is a partnership among Greater Bemidji, the City of Bemidji, Beltrami County and the Beltrami County HRA. It calls for a dedicated housing coordinator, water and sewer extensions to sites that are ready to build, and zoning and permitting support tied to the city's upcoming Comprehensive Plan. Sanford Health is providing start-up funding. Beltrami County's Housing Trust Fund is accepting pre-applications for projects that add at least 100 housing units in the county. The deadline is October 9, 2026, and submitting a pre-application does not guarantee funding.
These efforts address the problem behind the August numbers. They will take time, though. Infrastructure has to come before builders, and Tamarack Woods, the largest approved project, was still expected to finish in summer 2027 under its January schedule. Buyers shopping in 2026 and much of 2027 will be competing mainly for homes that already exist.
Two "Bemidji" medians that tell different stories
If you've compared sources, you may have seen a Bemidji median price that is falling. Minnesota Realtors' August 2026 table has a row labeled "NWMAR (Bemidji)" with a median of $241,250, down 3.6% from a year earlier, and 6.5 months of supply. That row covers the Northwest Minnesota Association of Realtors market area, which spans Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau counties.
- Use the NWMAR figure to understand northwestern Minnesota as a whole. It covers 120 closed sales across 12 counties, many of them in lower-priced rural markets.
- Use the Beltrami County figure if you plan to buy in or near Bemidji. It covers 55 closed sales and a $300,000 median for August 2026.
- Rely on year-to-date numbers more than any single month. The county report warns that one month's activity can look extreme because of small sample sizes. The 6.8% year-to-date price gain rests on 348 sales and is the steadier number.
Neither public series reports on the City of Bemidji alone. These figures are from August 2026, the most recent data Minnesota Realtors had published as of early October.
Questions buyers ask about this market
Does the falling NWMAR median mean Bemidji prices are going down? Not for Beltrami County. The county's August 2026 median rose 11.3%, and its year-to-date median rose 6.8%. The NWMAR figure covers a 12-county region with a different mix of homes.
Will The Walker or Gracewin add homes for sale soon? Possibly, but none of the sources confirms it. The Walker's spring 2026 completion date is not confirmed in any reporting, and as of May 2026 Gracewin was still collecting presales before it could start construction.
Is now a better time to sell than last year? Sellers in August 2026 received 97.1% of original list price after a median 56 days on market, compared with 96.1% and 80 days a year earlier. How that plays out for a particular home depends on its condition, price point and location. It isn't a guarantee for any one listing.
If you're deciding whether to list now or wait for new construction to change the market, The W Group can go through the Beltrami County numbers with you and show where your home fits among the listings buyers are competing for this fall. Request your free home valuation and we'll start with the current numbers.
