Bend Premier Real Estate Blog

For those of us who have lived in Bend over 5 years, we have seen many changes impacting our town. Visually, there are new parks and schools, a 4 year college under construction, new homes being built, and many new cars on the road. But what has truly happened to Bend single family home values over the last 5 years? TrendVision data from Central Oregon MLS provides the following information:

• The average active listing price has gone from $425,000 to $623,000 -  up 46.6%
• The average sold price has gone from $237,000 to $439,00 - up 85.2%
• The months of inventory based on closed sales has gone from 5.6 to 2.4 - down 57.6%
• The price per square foot of sold homes has gone from $123 to $216 - up 75.6%

When July 2011 is compared with July 2016:

• The number of homes avai...

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Anyone who lives in Bend cannot help but be aware that new construction is occurring all over the city. It is hard to find a Bend neighborhood that does not have a new home going up, if not there, then just a few blocks away.

With all the new homes being built, what are the Bend real estate trends that we see? According to TrendVision, data through July, 2016 reflect strong sales in Bend new construction. When comparisons are made to July, 2015, the sales of new homes in Bend are up 26% with the average price per square foot up 28.9% during the same time from $190 per square foot in July 2015 to $245 per square foot in July 2016. The days on market remain unchanged over the same period.

Reflecting a strong sellers' market, the price of new homes in Bend is rising at a greater rate than resale homes.  The average price now in Bend for a new home is $487,000; the same time last year the price was $372,000, an increase of 30.9%. And the inventory remains very tight,...

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Just about everyone is familiar with the board game Monopoly. We would be quick to pick our favorite markers… the top hat, Scottie dog, thumbnail, or my favorite -  the sports car.  Then we were given a small amount of money to start from the bank.  And for the next several hours we would try to buy real estate, develop our properties with houses and perhaps a hotel or two, collect rent from other players who landed on our developments, and hopefully end up monopolizing the entire board by driving the other players into bankruptcy.  But few people know that today's modern version of the game has its roots in a game called "The Landlord Game," developed by a politically liberal woman named Lizzie Magie in the early 1900's whose primary goal was to point out the "inequalities and evils of acquiring vast sums of money at the expense of others."  The original "Landlord Game" even had two sets of rules: the monopolist version we are more familiar with...

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Just ask any real estate Broker in Bend how sales have been and they should tell you that Bend home sales remain strong. 2nd quarter statistics reflect continued optimism in the Bend real estate market with single family homes in contract up 8.6% from 2nd quarter 2015. When June 2015 is compared with June 2016, Bend homes in contract are up 24.4%. Home prices are also up - with active prices 13.6% higher than 2nd quarter 2015 and sold prices up 10.8% during the same period. The average sold price of a single family Bend home is now at $212 per square foot and we have only 2 months of inventory based on pending sales. The city of Bend is also months behind in processing building permits and new home construction cannot keep up with the demand.

So what does this mean for Bend OR real estate?  Although nothing is guaranteed, in lieu of a major political or environmental catastrophe, the trends suggest buyers will continue to move to Bend and home sales will remain strong.

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Bend continues to be a destination for many west coast Americans thinking of relocating from an urban setting to one less congested and more conducive to an outdoor lifestyle.  Relative to home prices in the Seattle, Portland, or the Bay area, Bend real estate is still a bargain, although long time residents may find that current price trends are beyond what they ever imagined. When 2016 Bend home sales are compared year to date with sales from 2015, the number of listings sold are similar, but the average sales price is significantly higher. The average year to date cost of a Bend single family home on a lot less than an acre was $381,120 in 2015; for 2016 the cost is $409,787. The median cost in 2015 was $320,000 and in 2016 the median cost is $352,000.* And if trends continue, the total value of single family homes sold in Bend for 2016 may push $1,000,000,000. 

*Source - Central Oregon Association of Realtors