Parsing
any significant changes in the regional real estate market for 2017 is more an
exercise in probing nuances, and even then it motly distills to more of the
same--tight inventory favoring sellers and a consistent but perhaps slowing appreciation
rate.
For
all of 2017 the median price of a single family home sold in Bend was $396,000,
up 5.6% from $375,000 at year-end 2016. On a monthly basis, The Beacon Report
by Beacon Appraisal Group, notes that Bend prices reached $418,000 in September,
ranging from $409,000 in August to $411,000 in October before falling back to
$390,000 and $395,000 in November and December.
For
the previous years from 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 median prices rose 11.93% and
10.29% respectively.
The
closing median of $396,000 represented a near doubling of the $200,000 median
price at the close of 2011, when the
greater Bend area, including some outlying unincorporated areas, hit bottom
during the recession after at one time leading the nation in appreciation, as
reported by the Federal Housing Financing Administration.
In
Redmond, also including some outlying areas of the incorporated city, the
median price for all of 2017 climbed to $286,000, 8.8% above the full year of
2016. Prices rose 12.19% and 14.30% in previous year-end periods.
At
year-end Bend had tallied 2,478 single family sales with only 430 listings on
the MLS database. That translated to 2.08 months of inventory from which
potential buyers could choose, confirming a consistently tight sellers’ market
that for the past several years remained below 3.0 months.
Top
monthly sales of 246 each were recorded in June and August, slightly below the
259 sales in August of 2016. But unlike 2016 when the number of sales held
between 190 and 195 for the final three months, sales fell off substantially
from 228 in October of 2017 year to 189 in December.
The
days on market, or DOM, for Bend listings increased rose from a low of 63 in
April and July to 90 for December, a number that was mostly level for the final
three months.
The
drop came even with Fall of 2017 being especially snow-free and mild compared
with the same season last year. The lackluster 2017 sales could resonably be
pegged to substantial wildfire smoke in the area as Fall began, while some
brokers observed that the highly-touted impact of eclipse visitors in
mid-August might have kept buyers away or focused on the solar phenomenon
rather than home shopping.
The
number of days required to sell in Redmond also jumped dramatically, from 70 to
108, in the final three months of 2017, unlike Bend where DOMs were steady for
the concluding quarter of the year.
The
greater Bend and Redmond markets account for more than 80% of the 4,231 sales
in Central Oregon as reported by the Multiple Listing Service of Central
Oregon, from which Beacon Appraisal creates its report.
Central Oregon sub-markets in 2017
In the Beacon Report for smaller
sub-markets, Sunriver had the highest median price for 2017 at $454,500, with
177 sales inventory of three months through December. The Sunriver sub-market
includes the Sunriver Resort, Crosswater private golf community and Caldera
Springs, all part of the Sunriver Resort group.
Median
price, number of sales and year-end inventory for other sub-markets in 2017: (computed
by median of 4 quarters)
Sisters: $397,000; 169 sales; 4.68 months
inventory.
LaPine: $223,000; 106 sales 3.85 months inventory
Jefferson Co/Crooked River Ranch: $175,000;
131 sales; 3.53 months inventory
Crook County (including Prineville): $222,000;
293 sales; 2.34 months inventory
Prineville
has experienced significant job growth as Apple and Facebook continue to expand
large data centers in the town.
