Bend housing market continues showing strength at mid-summer

             Going into the second half of 2013 the Bend single family housing sector--a market bellwether for all of Central Oregon--is running slightly more than 7%, at 1,508 homes old,  ahead of the comparable 1,418 closings from January through mid-August of  2012.
            More important, perhaps, median prices are nearly 30% higher for the year, rising from $224,700 to $279,000, with total sales volume up nearly 33% from $376,964,606 to $500,590,023.

            The statistics are gleaned from the Multiple Listing Service of Central Oregon database.

            At the same time the median cumulative days on market (CDOM) have declined 19% to only 84 days.

            Another sign of an improving market is the drop in percentage of short sales or foreclosures. In the first 7.5 months of 2013 there were 208 sales in the distressed column, or 13.7% of all single family sales, down from 581, or nearly 41% in 2012.

            Inventory as calculated by averaging the previous 12 month sales was about 4.0 months at mid-August, an increase from the less than 3 months inventory earlier in the year. As a frame of reference, at one point in the depths of the housing recession there was a 13-month inventory of single family homes in Bend.

            Also showing market improvement is the pace of new homes sold in 2013.  Through mid-August about 19%, or 288, of homes sold were completed in either 2012 or 2013, compared with 11.4%, or 162 of sales in the comparable 2012 period of homes built that year or in 2011.

            There is also surprising strength in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 price bracket. For comparable 7.5 month periods of 2012 to 2013, sales of homes in that category nearly doubled, up 96% from 99 to 194 closings. And the cumulative days on market  dipped from 204 days to only 112.

 

4-Year OSU-Cascades passes legislative funding milestone

            The “what” and “how” are settled. Now the “where” for a location of the new 4-year OSU-Cascades campus has moved to the forefront.

            The Oregon legislature wrapped up its session in July with inclusion of $16 million in bond funding for the new university. That combined with an estimated $4 million in community pledged support and about $4 million from the college budget meant the dream had moved to reality.

            Work is now well underway in how to phase in facilities for the new campus, which by 2025 is expected to have capacity for 5,000 students.

            Initially it appears likely administrative and classroom space will be in existing commercial space within Bend, with an estimated short term need of 70,000 to 90,000 square feet.

            In the long term local broker Compass Commercial and a Portland consulting firm, SRG Partnership, have identified a large footprint on Bend’s west side that could accommodate the expansion beyond the current site now shared with Central Oregon Community College on the south side of Awbrey Butte. OSU-Cascades now occupies approximately 65,000 square feet at that location and another on Colorado Avenue.

            One potential site that has emerged in public discussion is the 85-acre former Deschutes County landfill property along Mt. Washington Drive and Simpson Avenue--just east of the Broken Top Community.

            Apparently not on the short list, as yet, is the City of Bend’s 1,500-acre Juniper Ridge project on the northern edge of Bend along Cooley Road. Several years ago city officials were touting the site as ideal for a major university and research center. 

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4-Year OSU Cascades campus moves into site location phase