The Good
Bend home sales continued their upward trend in April, with 105 stick built houses on less than an acre of land reported sold for the month. This marks an increase of nearly 13% from the same month a year earlier, when 93 homes were sold.
Sales activity is up more than 5% through the first four months of this year over the same time period last year.
Time on the market also continues to shorten, with the median time from listing to closing for April sales reported to be 116 days, down 20 days (or nearly 15%) from a year earlier.
The Bad
6 of every 10 homes sold in April were distressed properties, with bank owned houses accounting for 43% of sales and short sales making up another 17%.
While short sales held fairly steady at around 17% of all sales, bank owned property sales increased in April from the first quarter of the year, when they made up roughly 32% of residential sales. This is even more astonishing when considering that bank owned properties account for only about 6.9% of all houses currently listed for sale in Bend.
The Ugly
Home prices continued their decline in April. The median price of homes sold last month was down more than 27.5% from a year earlier, and down 11.8% from the first quarter of this year. The median price of April sales was $195,000, down from $270,000 in May 2008 and $221,000 in the January through March period of 2009.
Opportunity
While it's become common knowledge that home sellers must be realistic in pricing their houses to sell, the current market has created some tremendous opportunities for today's home buyers.
With interest rates on 30 year fixed rate loans right around 5%, the federal government offering "first time buyers" an $8,000 tax credit (defined as someone who has not owned a primary residence in the last 3 years) and prices in Bend down to where they were in about 2004, a buyer can put just 3.5% down using a 30 year fixed rate FHA loan and have a principal and interest payment of only $1,023 per month for the purchase of a home priced at April's median of $195,000.
If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling, please give me a call. I'd be happy to discuss the opportunities available to you in today's market.
