Duke Warner Realty Market Trends Report for Bend, Oregon September 2012…

Across the board fewer is the key word for this Septembers Duke Warner Realty Market Trends Report.


The Bend market as a whole saw a dramatic decrease in the number of new listings that came into the market this past month. September dropped to 115 new listings the third fewest new listings to enter the market in the past three years. To contrast there have been upwards of 180 new properties entering the market every month since last March.

Sold and pending sales numbers for the month of September also cooled off a bit from the previous months. The $325,000 - $525,000 price range experienced a 46% decline from the previous month. This same class of properties had fewer new and active listings. This drop may be attribute to tighter underwriting standards for mortgages making it harder for folks to qualify for funding of these purchases. With the difficult time financing their next purchase, these same buyers are reluctant to put their current homes on the market.


In the still smokin’ hot $125,000 - $225,000 market there appears to be more cash buyers who are investors that do not have the same issues in funding. These cash buyers have been making it a challenge for first time home buyers to purchase due to the slower timeline of having to involve their lender. The homes in this class make a lot of sense to investors as they pencil out well for rental properties which remain in high demand.


A continued decrease in the number of available distressed properties will only add to the current inventory woes. The number of bank owned homes in Bend that have been recorded with Deschutes County is at the lowest point in the last twelve months of 73 properties. This number has been on a constant decline since January of this year. In tandem with this number is the decrease in the number of homes entering foreclosure, this while the number of rescissions for Notices of Default has doubled from the previous months. This trend may attributed to the failure of Oregon SB 1552 to gain traction with the larger lenders and recent circuit court rulings requiring lenders to document the chain of title.


Coming up in a few days will be the Bratton Report for the Bend real estate market, I would expect that that report will reflect the same trends as found here in the Duke Warner Realty Market Trends Report.

Feel free to contact me for a more thorough discussion about today’s real estate market in Bend and how it could affect your decisions to enter the market now or in the future.