Old Man Winter finally paid Bend a visit in February. We saw over 100″ of new snow at Mt. Bachelor, and a pretty feeble season suddenly turned into a good one.
The real estate market attained a modicum of stability in February as well. The median price of a home in Bend hovered around $271,000 . . . about the same as the previous two months (but far from those halcyon days of May 2007, when the median hit an ungodly $378,000). I guess we’re not back yet.
132 Homes Sold in Bend
Another sign of stability was the lack of impact made by bank-owned and short sale properties; these “distressed” units made up less than 9% of the 132 sales. A year ago (February 2013 statistics) that number was over 20%, two years ago it was between 55 and 60%. Just not sure what happened to all that purported “shadow inventory.”
Inventory Levels in Bend
Despite all the moaning about the lack of inventory driving prices higher, reality is that currently there are 472 single family homes on the market in Bend; a year ago there were 342 . . . we’re up almost 38% from 2013.
Still, overall we’ve got just 3.7 months of for sale inventory . . . as we’ve mentioned many times, the National Association of Realtors considers 6 months of inventory to be a “balanced” market.
High End Bend . . . $1,325,000
The most expensive purchase in Bend in February was a beautiful home on Awbrey Butte (the listing photos don’t do the home justice!) . . . 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and 4300 square feet.
The home, built in 2002, featured stone floors, wonderful painting, a huge wine cellar, and some freakin’ crazy artwork.
The home sold for $308 per square foot after being on the market for 238 days.
Least Expensive . . . $99,500
The low priced leader was a cute little (2/1, 1178 square feet) house in midtown. It went for $85/foot.
It featured a single garage, fenced yard with deck, a sun room, and a very very small office.
I actually showed this home a few times.
Median in Bend
The median priced home in Bend would look like this new construction (another strong segment of the current market . . . 65 building permits issued in February!) home in Aspen Rim, on Bend’s southwest side. The 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1941 square foot home went for $141/ foot.
It featured stainless appliances, maple cabinetry, engineered hardwood flooring, all on a postage stamp-sized (4320 square feet) lot! In most cases, these homes are purchased by investors, and are rented before they are complete.
Notable Sales
I guess they’re really only “notable” because we made them . . . a nice home in The Parks at Broken Top that went at $500,000
and a single level rancher on the southeast side that went pending in one day, and sold for over the list price.
Moving Forward . . . Bend Real Estate
The low end of the market has been extremely active . . . 42% of February’s sales were under $250,000 (often a battle between first time buyers and cash-wielding investors); it’s clear that homes priced under $200,000 are a thing of the past (almost). Also, obvious that the higher end market is made up of discretionary buyers . . . it’s just not happening (yet).
The market is poised to take off in the next couple of months!
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