From the top 20 to the bottom 20...

The rise and fall of the Bend-Central Oregon real estate market has been followed not only in the local media and MLS statistics but also by the federal Housing Price Index.

In the 2^nd quarter of 2006 Bend reached the summit of the national HPI, ranking No. 1 for appreciation among nearly 300 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.  At that point in March of 2006, the index compiled by the Federal Housing Financing Administration said Bend area housing had appreciated at a one-year rate of 36.65% and had nearly doubled, 99.36%, over the past five years.

Bend—in which the FHFA model includes Deschutes County—held onto the No. 1 spot for each quarter through 2006 but then slipped to No. 10 in the 1^st quarter of 2007.  From there it was been a steady slide as the region reached the bottom of the national rankings at 299 of of 299 reported MSAs at the end of 2009. Then Bend appreciation was a negative 20.55% for the year and had for the first time sunk into negative territory at -0.71% for the previous five years.

Bend continued to bounce along the bottom among all MSAs and at the end of 2009 grabbed the dubious distinction of passing the Las Vegas area as the worst market in the country. It held that position until being barely edged aside for the bottom spot in the 3^rd quarter of 2010 by the Daytona Beach area of Florida.

For that quarter, the last one reported through early 2011 by the federal agency, Bend was 298 among 299 MSAs with a one-year negative appreciation of -13.73% and -24.35% for the previous five years.