Back in July I posted that Business Insider had Bend ranked as the second best housing market to be invested in during the next five years. The ranking was based on data compiled from Fiserv Case Schiller Indexes comparing the price change between two arms-length sales of the same single-family home. Earlier this month Business Insider combed the indexes again to compile an updated list. The new list has Bend ranked as THE BEST housing market for the next five years. They don’t offer any insight as to what might have changed to cause former #1 Carson City’s projected annualized growth to drop from 11.7% to 10% and Bend’s to improve from 11.7% to 11.9% during the last six months. However, the fact that they continue to see continued growth in the housing market here is definitely a good sign.
Business Insider’s projections of nearly 12% annual growth over the next five years is a good sign that we may be at or near the bottom of the market. One piece of information from Business Insider that is easy to overlook is the sentence about how far prices have fallen since the peak in the first quarter of 2007. In their latest release they say that home prices in Bend are now 45.2% below the peak. Just six months ago they said home prices were 42% below the peak. That means home prices have fallen 3% in six months but there is a caveat. In July they said that the price of homes in Bend was expected to “trough” in the third quarter of 2011. This means it is still possible for their projection to be accurate. Possible but not likely because for their July projection of 11.7% annualized growth to be accurate we would need to see nearly 15% growth over the next six months.
Maybe we won’t see the price of homes grow by more than 11% in the twelve months ending June 2012 but that doesn’t mean that you should wait to see that kind of growth before you buy. To the contrary, if you wait until home prices are growing at 10% per year then you have missed the bottom of the market. Now is the time to be watching for that perfect house and have your realtor on speed dial. If you would like to explore homes for sale in Bend and Central Oregon please call or email us for a personalized list of homes for sale in your price range or search Bend MLS.
Update: House prices in Bend continued to rise at a steady rate throughout 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.
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