Are Bend Real Estate Sales at a Crossroads?
We have been blogging monthly about Bend real estate trends for many years. Often the data repeats itself month after month and it can feel a bit repetitious. However, since the beginning of 2022, we have noted changes with Bend home sales trends. There may be many things that are contributing to these changes - i.e. inflation, rising mortgage interest rates, the end of the Covid pandemic mask mandates and stay at home orders, the war in Ukraine, and the start of the mid-year election season to name a few. It remains to be seen whether or not these changes will continue as we move into the Bend's peak selling season which runs from mid spring into early fall.
When April 2022 Bend single family home sales on less than an acre are compared with those from April 2021, the following changes can be seen:
- Average sales price up 13.7% to $876,041*
- Median sales price up 17.99% to $767,450
- New listings up 11.7% to 297
- Homes for sale down 53.4% to 213
- Pending sales up 50% to 366
- Sold homes down 24% to 184
- Median Days on Market unchanged at 4
- Months of supply down 55% to .9
- Average price per square foot up 17.4% to $432
- Median price per square foot up 22.8% to $410
- Average percentage of sales price to list price down .5% to 103.7%
- Dollar Volume down 13.6% to $161,191,515
While Bend home prices keep trending upward, it is at a greatly reduced rate than that experienced over the past two years when home prices grew an amazing 67% between February 2020 and February 2022. Although Bend's trends are higher than experts believe will be seen in much of the country, it is good for homebuyers who may be priced out of the local market if the high rate of growth continues. But even at a lesser rate, Bend home prices are still expected to rise. Bend homebuyers may do better to buy now rather than later, especially if mortgage interest rates also go up.
Bend Home Sales Down in April 2022
The trend that hit us when reviewing the April data was the figure on home sales; the number of Bend homes that sold in April was down 24% which was also reflected in the dollar volume of sold homes. While the average price was up, the number of homes that closed was down. Whether or not this change is a reflection on the increase in mortgage interest rates that went up sharply in March, the end of most of the Covid-19 financial support, or a shift in the demand for Bend homes remains to be seen. As can also be noted, pending home sales were up 50% in April which may indicate the change in closed homes was just an anomaly. We will continue to keep track of this figure as it is among the best indicators of future Bend home demand.
