Market Trends for May 2023

What an amazing time of year to be in Central Oregon! Excuse me while I get a little gushy. The weather is absolutely perfect. We’re at the beginning of lake and river season, the flowers are in full bloom, the smell of lilacs fill the air, every patio is overflowing with diners ready to sit outside and enjoy the pleasant evenings. What’s there not to love! I hope you’re getting outside and soaking it all in.

Before I get into the May residential market trends, I thought I would touch on the growth Bend will see in the coming years. From a building perspective, the City of Bend is going through a major shift in the type of construction going up…literally. There’s an explosion of multifamily, commercial/residential, affordable housing along with single-family coming up. We’re also seeing a tremendous amount of road construction pretty much everywhere. Here are some hard numbers that are a bit mind blowing:

– There are 11 projects either under construction or coming up that will bring 3,766 condo, apartment, micro units into Bend.

– Starting in 2016 our UGB (Urban Growth Boundary) expansion has added 2,329 acres into the City of Bend. Many of these acres have already seen development begin such as Pahlisch’s Easton and Petrosa projects in the SE and NE sides of town respectively while others have not been started yet.

– Some projections are showing that our population will increase to 150,000 by 2040. Our current population is around 105,000. That’s a 43% increase in the next 17 years.

Whew! Bend may look very different in the coming years but it’s no wonder the growth is happening. We’ve been booming since the 90’s and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down. Now that we’ve gotten through all of that, let’s check out the numbers from last month.

Median Home Price: $745k in May, a high we haven’t seen since last July

Homes Sold: 157 sold in May, up from 129 in April

Days on Market: Dropped to 7 days

Cash vs. Conventional Loan: We saw a jump to 38% cash purchases which is higher than our norm of around 25%

Inventory: We’re currently at about 1.7 months of inventory, creeping closer to the nearly 2ish months we’d be seeing during a typical May. One interesting note is that the inventory levels in the $1.6million and higher price range are showing a 5-6 month supply.

16% under $550k

27% from $550-$700k

34% from $700-$1mil

11.5% from $1mil-$1.4mil

11.5% over $1.4mil

36% sold over asking (vs. 22% in April)

18% sold at asking (vs. 28% in April)

46% sold under asking (vs. 50% in April)

22% sold over asking (vs.17% in April)

25% sold at asking (vs. 24% in April)

53% sold under asking (vs. 59% in April)

We’re currently in the peak of our buyer’s season but, due to high interest rates amongst other money related factors, we’re not seeing the normal movement we have in years past. A couple of lenders that I work with have been predicting that the interest rates will begin to come down at the end of the summer but they’re not soothsayers and, sadly, neither am I. I can only hope that we do see a decrease to allow buyers who need to purchase with a loan to feel more comfortable stepping back into the market and sellers feeling more comfortable letting go of their amazing rate that they refied or purchased into a few years ago.

If you stuck with me during this very rambling monthly look back I greatly appreciate it. As always, call me with questions or send any friends and loved ones my way who have need of a realtor in their world.

Enjoy the first breaths of summer!