Bend Oregon now a Retirement Property Bargain
Continuing with our Bend Oregon real estate roller coaster theme–the “good news” peaks and the “bad news” valleys– comes a recent study from US News and World Report (see the entire report here) utilizing somewhat esoteric data to discover great values in real estate, and naming Bend Oregon as one of the top spots in the country for “retirement property steals.”
Price to Income Ratio in Bend Oregon
The study used data from Moody’s Analytics; it took price-to-income numbers from 384 metro areas. In most markets this is a pretty reliable indicator, though not necessarily the case here in Central Oregon where so many folks have sources of income from outside the area. However, by comparing a real estate market’s most recent price-to-income ratio with its long-term average, the study was able to pinpoint areas with retirement property deals.
Central Oregon Retirement Properties
Second home buyers and active retirees flocking to Bend and the “good life” drove the median home price to nearly double (a scorching $396,000 in May of 2006) in the first six years of the century. The subsequent tumble of the Bend housing market has driven the price-to-income ratio to a low of 1.7 (from a high of 3.4, also in 2006). That’s below the ratio of 2 for the previous fifteen years ending in 2003.
According to the report, this increase in affordability makes Bend Oregon retirement homes especially attractive today. To quote Lester Friedman, president elect of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, “Central Oregon has always been a place where people came to get away, and, of course, that is kind of the definition of retirement.” Friedman points to a number of activities that can keep seniors busy in Bend year round, including hiking, mountain biking, skiing, fishing, boating, and volunteering. “We have wonderful college facilities, so continuing education is easy,” he says. “You name it, we’ve got it.”
Search anonymously for retirement property steals in Bend Oregon.
