Bend home sales fall in January, but prices still rise

A 22-year chart, meanwhile, shows the rise, fall and rise in Bend home prices

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Bend-area home sales dropped markedly as 2020 began, but the median sales price rose by nearly $10,000 to $449,000, just shy of where it stood a year earlier, Redmond-based Beacon Appraisal Group said Friday.

The number of Bend sales of single-family homes dropped from 205 in December to 134 in January, the fewest sales seen in the city since last February, when a harsh late winter hit meant just 106 homes sold.

The average days on market for sold properties also rose markedly, to 115 days, the longest period since the 132-day average days on market back in January 2017, the report said.

Bend-area building permits climbed, nevertheless, from 48 in December to 60 last month.

Meanwhile, the Redmond-area median home sale price edged upward to $330,00 in January while the number of sales held steady at 71, according to the report, based on Multiple Listings Service figures. Days on market also barely changed, at an average 119 days, and 25 building permits were issued, up five from December.

Beacon Appraisal also compiled a 22-year graph of Bend's median home sales prices, which started below $125,000 in January 1997 and a steady climb until it surged in the mid-2000s to a pre-recession peak of $396,000 in 2007.

Then came a plunge to the bottom, back down to just $166,000 in November 2011, followed by a steady, quicker climb to the new peak last August of $475,000.

Other January median price figures ranged from $445,000 in Sunriver and $418,000 in Sisters to $309,000 in Crook County, $290,000 in La Pine and $223,000 in Jefferson County/Crooked River Ranch.