May 2024 Market Trends

At long last, summer is just about here. Things are heating up in the high country as we enter into tourist season and school has just officially let out. My guess is that starting today the Deschutes river in town will be full of floaters and revelry. Let the summer games begin.

As far as real estate is concerned we should be in the throes of the buying season but it doesn’t seem to be the frenzy that we saw in the past. For the first time in years, we’re at almost a three month inventory. The sellers are ready to sell but the buyers seem to be slowing down a bit according to our most recent numbers. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what is causing the slowdown; whether it’s buyers waiting for the Feds to make a move that would cut rates, the upcoming election, general inflation of energy costs/food costs, etc., some companies making a move to bring their employees back to the office, or home prices needing to decline. Any way you slice it, active listings are up to July 2022 numbers and sales are down from last year.

All that being said, homes are still selling but we’re seeing a lot more price reductions in the past month. But still, the 130 homes sold in May, down from 161 in May of 2023, about half of them sold at asking or above asking price. If you’re looking to sell nowadays it’s more important than ever to price your home correctly and make sure your home is ready to sell. With more inventory coming on as cruise into summer, buyers can be picky in finding their perfect home. The expectation of selling a home quickly like we saw in the Covid years has shifted back to prior years where homes are viewed and contemplated over by the buyers rather than devoured in days.

I continue to comb through the market everyday and am happy to talk about real estate anytime.

Enjoy the warmer climates and I hope all is well.

Cheers to Summer,