A typical Montrose home is worth about $193,000
Up 10% in a year, 19% below the Iowa typical home.
Only 1 sale in April 2026: in a market this size, monthly medians swing a lot, so the typical value is the steadier guide.
What kind of housing town is Montrose?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
Home values since 2022
Typical home value by month.
Show as a table
| January | Montrose | Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $163,000 | $211,000 |
| 2024 | $160,000 | $218,000 |
| 2025 | $170,000 | $228,000 |
| 2026 | $182,000 | $236,000 |
| August 2026 | $193,000 | $240,000 |
A typical Montrose home worth $152K in February 2022 is worth about $193K today.
Zillow Home Value Index: the typical value of all homes (middle third), smoothed and seasonally adjusted, through August 2026.
A typical home costs 2.9 years of income
About the same as across Iowa. Try your own numbers below.
That covers a typical Montrose home, with $50K to spare.
A two-bedroom rents for about $920 a month here, $300 less than owning.
An estimate, not a loan offer: payments of up to 28% of income, a 30-year fixed loan, Montrose’s typical property tax (1.30% of value a year, from the Census) and insurance of about 0.35%. Mortgage insurance, HOA fees and other debts aren’t included.
91% of Montrose households own their home
Half of Montrose’s homes were built before 1964.
Iowa: 72% own.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 · figures for a place this size carry wide margins of error.
A two-bedroom rents for about $920
Renters already here pay a median of $625, so moving in tends to cost more than staying put.
Fair Market Rent a month, utilities included
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents by ZIP code (Lee County, IA): the 40th-percentile rent plus utilities for a standard unit. Median rent and renters: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
10 new homes permitted in 2025
Builders were permitted 10 new homes in Montrose in 2025, all single-family houses, worth about $3 million to build. Over the past 10 years, Montrose has permitted 27 homes in all.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, Montrose's population fell by 160 even though 5 new homes were permitted. Homes are holding fewer people: households are getting smaller, or more homes are used part of the year. Across Iowa: 1.3 new residents per new home.
Every year as a table
| Year | New homes | Single-family | 2+ per building | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 6 | 6 | 0 | $1.8 million |
| 2025 | 10 | 10 | 0 | $3 million |
| 2024 | 9 | 9 | 0 | $2.7 million |
| 2023 | 8 | 8 | 0 | $2.4 million |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2015 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $450,000 |
| 2014 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $179,000 |
| 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2012 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $120,000 |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2008 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2006 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $294,000 |
| 2005 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $60,000 |
| 2004 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $151,000 |
| 2003 | 4 | 4 | 0 | $347,000 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2001 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $447,000 |
| 2000 | 4 | 4 | 0 | $202,000 |
Montrose's permit office didn't report to the Census in 2025, so the 2025 figures are Census estimates.
Homes authorized by building permits, counted in the year the permit was issued. U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
Neighbors talk housing
What Montrose buyers, sellers and renters are saying.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Zillow Research, August 2026. Sales, days on market and supply: Redfin Data Center, April 2026. Income, ownership, taxes and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. New homes: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey. Fair Market Rents: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Listings link to their publishers. The calculator is an estimate, not a loan offer.