What happens when the buyers of higher priced homes take a break? Balance returns to the home sales statistics!
In previous months, there had been a very steady diet of well-heeled buyers for Bend homes. In May, of the 146 single family home sales in Bend, 34% were properties that sold for over $1,000,000. Come June, the percentage of homes selling for over $1,000,000 slipped to 18%. This happened while overall sales in June rose to 166 homes, 48 were cash sales and 107 were financed. The number of financed purchases rose from 79 in May.
Have buyers accepted that interest rates likely won’t return to historic lows anytime soon? Are they seeing the daily price reductions and spotting their opportunity? Probably both! Not since 2013 have buyers had this much inventory to choose from.
Will the $1,000,000 buyers return? I expect to see a rebound as we move deeper into summer. Meanwhile, the market below $1,000,000 continues to show strength. There are many lending programs helping buyers in the lower market range. We continue to see (and request) seller concessions, like help with closing expenses or interest rate buydowns, to sweeten the deal.
As sellers adapt to today’s market, we’ll continue to see price reductions daily. This may cause some hesitation to list right away, but many will return when the timing is right. For buyers the choices for them have not been greater for quite sometime making now a great time to check out a new place to live.
Homes in Bend are still expensive overall, and I do not expect that to change too dramatically any time soon.
