High Mortgage Rates - High Prices Affecting Bend Home Sales

For the 4th week in a row, the thirty year mortgage interest rate has risen which has impacted real estate sales across the country. With these rates now pushing 7%, the buying power of Bend homebuyers has diminished.

With this change, few sellers are putting their homes of the market. Why sell a home with a great interest rate when the replacement home will cost so much more to finance? Both Bend home buyers and Bend home sellers are making decisions based on the cost to finance and when mortgage rates rise, often the decision made is to do nothing.

Bend Real Estate Inventory Levels Remain Low

Although there is always a downward seasonal adjustment for Bend home sales in the winter, the number...

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Are you feeling a bit unsure about what's really happening with mortgage rates? That might be because you've heard someone say they're coming down. But then you read somewhere else that they're up again. And that may leave you scratching your head and wondering what's true.

The simplest answer is: that what you read or hear will vary based on the time frame they're looking at. Here's some information that can help clear up the confusion.

Mortgage Rates Are Volatile by Nature

Mortgage rates don't move in a straight line. There are too many factors at play for that to happen. Instead, rates bounce around because they're impacted by things like economic conditions, decisions from the Federal Reserve, and so much mo...

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What's In the January, 2024 Bend Premier Real Estate Newsletter?

• Bend Home Prices Leveling Off
• Chocolate Covered Tuxedo Strawberries
• The Best Things to Do in Bend During February
• Jack Lake to Three Fingered Jack
• Winning Plays

Bend Home Prices Leveling Off

The January 2024 Bend real estate market shows some stabilization. Although the average and median price per square foot are both up, the average and median sales price on sold homes comparing January 2024 to January 2023 show little movement. The issue most Bend home buyers are still dealing with is lack of inventory which provides few choices for people looking to purchase. Although mortgage interest rates have come down from the high rates pushing 8% seen last fall, they are still in the mid sixes which also impact the purchasing power for home buyers.

When the January 2024 sales for Bend single family homes on less than an acre are compared with those from January 2023, the following changes can be seen:

• Average sales price down 1.9% to $842,669*
• Median sales price up 1.5% to $699,950
• New listings down 14.7% to 99
• Homes for sale down 28.4% to 204

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Bend Real Estate Sales Were Limited in 2024

Probably the biggest challenge for Bend Home Sales in 2024 was mortgage interest rates. Mortgage rates started the year at 6.48% and ended the year at 6.62%. During the middle of the year, the mortgage rates rose to 7.79% which greatly limited the buying power for most Bend homebuyers who needed to finance in order to purchase. Home sales in Bend continued, but at a greatly reduced rate than experienced during Covid when mortgage rates under 4% were normal.

High mortgage rates also kept many Bend home sellers from listing. The thought for many was why sell and give up a great mortgage rate of less than 4% to exchange to one over 7% on a different home? Many Central Oregon real estate brokers discovered that many listings were limited to just those who had to sell for a job tra...

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