Bend Premier Real Estate Blog

Bend Home Sales Continue Upward Trends

The Bend single family residential sales trends that we saw in July continued into August with record breaking prices, low inventory levels, and a large uptick in pending sales contracts greatly impacting the Bend real estate market.  Lack of inventory remains a major issue with levels now below one month supply.  This has driven home prices up and led to multiple offers on many properties.

When August 2020 is compared with August 2019, the following data can be noted for Bend single family homes on less than an acre:

• Average sales price is up 17% to $656,022*
• Median sales price is up 11.6% to $529,950
• New listings are up 6.3% to 254
• Number of homes for sale is down 79.1% to 198
• Pending sales is up 125.9% to 576

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Last Saturday, August 29th, we decided to take an easier hike to Sisters Mirror Lake.  Located just south of Devil's Lake off South Century Drive, the Sisters Mirror Lake trail head has limited parking space, but we easily found a spot on the highway.  The 3 plus mile hike into Sisters Mirror Lake was a fairly easy walk in old growth forest with an elevation gain of between 600 and 700 feet. The lake itself is one of a series of small high elevation lakes, each with its own charm and privacy. We saw just a few people on this trip - many with packs to spend the night.

After enjoying visiting the various lakes, including Lancelot, Camelot, Needle and several unnamed lakes and snacking on wild blueberries that were at their peak of ripeness, we traveled on the Pacific Crest Trail, which skirts Sisters Mirror Lake, to Wickiup Plains having heard that the Plains provide wonderful South Sister views.  That statement was proven true when we stepped out of the old growth forest and saw South Sister. The south side of South Sister rises dramatically up from the Wickiup Plains and dominates the skyline. The view is truly magnificent and with each step closer to the Wickiup Point, the view grew larger. 

We took the Wickiup loop back, connecting with the Devil's Lake trail before taking the Elk Lake trail back to connect with the Sisters Mirror Lake trail roughly 1/2 a mile before the parking lot. Wonderful views of Broken Top were visible on this part of our hike before we entered the old growth forest again. All in all, our relatively easy hike ended up being in excess of 12 miles - but it was well worth it for the wonderful surprises we saw.  We have lived in Bend since 1985 but have never heard of Wickiup Plains before. What a surprise!

I'm going to share a little secret with you. Stihl Whisky Bar is the new hot spot.

In Bend, sometimes its all about brunch. This fresh menu and iconic setting will stun you. After visiting Stihl Whisky Bar for several happy hour sessions we noticed that they'd started doing Brunch! Obviously we had to go check it out and we were blown away. Not only were there some great twists of brunch classics, there also was no wait! This is Bend's best kept secret and it wont stay that way for long.

Which dish was our favorite? That's hard to say. Each item we ordered had stand-alone qualities that would leave any brunch goer thrilled. Lets dive into what we ordered!

The biscuits and gravy, even without eggs, is INCREDIBLE. Wow, we didn't know you could take a classic and redefine what it should taste like. This is a dish you could literally eat everyday. Mezcal-...

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Bend Has Been Discovered by the Luxury Home Buyer

We have been tracking Bend real estate sales for decades, but the summer of 2020 has provided for high end home sales that have never been seen before in the Bend market. High end homes have been part of Bend real estate since the early part of last century when the Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks-Scanlon lumber mills opened and logging became the main industry within the town. The land near Mirror Pond and Drake Park became the location where some of Bend's earliest luxury homes were built. Over the years, as various sections of Bend were developed, the luxury market expanded into Pilot Butte, Awbrey Butte, and the various golf communities in town such as Awbrey Glen, Broken Top, Pronghorn and Tetherow. However, as these communities were developed, what constituted luxury in those days rarely exceeded $1,000,000.  Today, however, Bend million dollar home sales are breaking records.

The following chart shows July 2020 p...

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