By Jason Boone

An already tight housing market in Bend, Oregon, got tighter in April.

Through the end of April, the inventory of houses for sale in the Bend market was 2.1 months, according to data compiled by the Skjersaa Group. The inventory of 2.1 months is the lowest in the time period covered by the Skjersaa Group’s data, which dates to the start of 2007.

Months of inventory estimates how long it would take to sell all of the homes for sale if no new properties went to market. Six months is commonly used as the dividing line between a seller’s market and a buyer’s market.

April’s 2.1 months of inventory is a decline from 2.3 months in March, which tied June 2013 for the lowest inventory in the Skjersaa Group’s data set. In April of the previous year, the Bend market had an inventory of 3.1 months.

Pending sales headed into May indicate another busy month of home sales in the Bend area.

Pending sales headed into May indicate another busy month of home sales in the Bend area.

Pending home sales in April 2016 also reflect the tightening market. Last month had 323 pending sales, which exceeds any other month for which we have data. The only other months since the start of 2007 in which pending sales exceeded 300 were April 2015 (301) and May 2015 (310). The number of pending sales in April 2016 promises continued robust sales figures for this month.

The dwindling inventory apparently played a hand in the rise of the median price of sold homes. April’s median sales price in the Bend market was $363,650. That’s the third-highest median sales price in the data set, and the highest since May 2007, when the median price was $396,250. The inventory in May 2007, however, was 15.2 months, more than seven times as great as the April 2016 inventory.

Comparison to the previous month and the previous year demonstrate how the market has moved. April’s median sales price is 5.1 percent higher than the median in March of this year ($346,000) and 17.3 percent higher than in April 2015 ($309,990).

By volume of sales, April was the busiest month of this calendar year with 205 closed sales. That’s barely more than were sold in April 2015, when 203 home sales closed. But the number of homes for sale last month in the Bend market was 360, compared with 424 in April 215. Expressed another way, two more homes were sold last month than in April 2015, even though 15 percent fewer homes were on the market in April 2016 compared with a year ago.

As of May 1, 407 homes in the Bend market were for sale, the most for any month this year.

A data point that aligns with the increase in the median sales price is the number of homes sold for more than $425,100. There were 69 such sales last month, the most since 72 in that price range were sold in September 2015. As a percentage of all home sales, 34 percent of April’s sales were in this price range, whereas 32 percent of the sales last September were for $425,100 or more.

And, not unexpectedly based on the above statistic, fewer houses in the range of $225,100 to $325,000 were sold in April. Thirty-three percent of April 2016’s sales were in that range. That’s down a little from March of this year (37 percent) and down more from April 2015 (46 percent).

The aggregated data from a month of sales and listings, of course, can’t determine the needs of an individual buyer or seller. I can help navigate the market and find the perfect Bend home, or market your home in this environment.

To learn more about Bend home prices, get started with listing your Bend home, or to view area homes, contact me at (541) 383-1426, or visit Bend Property Search to connect with me through my website.

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