How High Can Bend Home Prices Go?
It seems that every month we are breaking records with Bend single family home sales. Since coming out of the great recession, Bend has experienced high demand for available housing leading to an increase in home prices. But since the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting "stay at home orders" and recognition that working from home can be a viable option for many Americans, the increase in the number of people wanting to move to Bend has risen beyond that ever seen before. The lack of property for sale has resulted in tremendous price increases, with the median price of a Bend single family home on less than an acre up 67% above what it was in February 2020 when the pandemic began. While builders have tried to keep up with the demand, the price increases in building materials and subcontractors have done little to keep the price of a new home down; Oregon's strict land use laws have also made the available development land extremely expensive. New homes are now being built on smaller and smaller lots with high density a stated goal for city planning in both the state and local government. Older homes on lots with some elbow room are commanding higher prices than ever seen, despite updating and deferred maintenance needs. It is hard to keep enough homes on the market resulting in frustrated buyers and sky high sales prices.
When February 2022 is compared with February 2021 for Bend single family home sales on less than an acre, the following changes can be noted:
- Average sales price up 23.4% to $880,048
- Median sales price up 29.2% to $769,000
- New listings up 16% to 210
- Homes for sale down 67.5% to 132
- Pending sales up 149.6% to 297
- Sold homes up 11% to 131
- Median days on market unchanged at 4
- Months of supply down 68.4% to .6
- Average price per square foot up 22.6% to $412
- Median price per square foot up 16.3% to $371
- % of list price to sales price down .5% to 101.7%
- Dollar volume of closed sales up 37% to $115,286,298
Predictions on 2022 Bend Real Estate Sales
While it is fairly easy to read the data and follow the sales trends for the Bend real estate market, the unknown can have an impact on what we predicted in January. Inflation has hit Americans very hard. The volatility of the stock market and uncertainty of long term investments may make people more likely to purchase real estate as it has historically been a solid way to build wealth. But when you throw in a war and sanctions against a major oil producer, the ripple effect may be felt throughout the world. Gas prices are now higher than they have ever been. People are feeling the impact of this in their monthly expenses and finding their paychecks are not covering what they did just the month before. It may become harder to save for a down payment which may influence the buying opportunities for some. Whether or not the current national and world-wide economic conditions will have lasting influence on Bend home sales remains to be seen.
