First Quarter 2011: single family sales up & prices down

            Closing out the first quarter of 2011 Central Oregon’s real estate market continued to show some signs of stabilizing but sale prices continued weak across most sub-markets and property categories.

            Distressed properties continued to grab the bulk of single family sales in Bend and Redmond, which together comprise nearly 80% of total sales among the eight sub-markets that also include Sisters, Sunriver, Jefferson and Crook counties, Three Rivers South and LaPine.

            Single family sales edged higher in Bend through the first three months ending March 31 as compared to the same period of 2010. But median prices slipped by 7.89% fdrom $190,000 to $175,600.

            Total unit sales, including distressed properties, increased by 9.14% year to year. The share of total sales in Bend that were either short sales or foreclosures was almost dead even, at 63%, in the first quarters of 2011 and 2010. 

            In Redmond total sales declined by 6.39% in the comparable first quarter and prices also dropped by slightly more than 5% to $119,500 from $125,816. Distressed sales increased from 71.5% of the total in the first quarter of 2010 to 77% in 2011.

            Of the 221 pending sales in Bend as of mid-April, there were 130, or 58.82%  recorded as short sales or foreclosures. In Redmond, 57 of 74 pending sales, or 77%, were distressed properties.

Broader market reflects Bend and Redmond

            Altogether in the eight sub-markets of Central Oregon, there were 711 single family homes sold in the first quarter of 2011 at a median price of $145,000, compared with 666 sales at a median of $162,000 in the same quarter of 2010--a 6.76% rise in unit sales but a continuing decline of 10.49% in median price.

Distressed properties accounted for 459 sales in Q1-2011, an identical share of 65% after rounding to the 431 out of 666 total sales in Q1-2010. Median prices of distressed properties  in the broader eight-market area declined by 11.81% from $144,000 to $127,000.

            Of the 379 pending single family home sales in Q1-2011 listed on the Central Oregon MLS on April 14, there were 238—or 62.80%-- that were either short sales or foreclosures.

First Quarter 2011-2010 Single Family Home Sales

Q1 Market Statistics Bend and Central Oregon Single Family Home Sales
Source: MLS of Central Oregon (click to enlarge)