As summer peaked in August, the Bend, Oregon, real estate market downshifted with sales data taking a step back from recent months.

The median sales price decreased and inventory and average days on market increased in August. That’s not to say, however, that the Bend real estate market started to resemble a traditional environment, one relatively balanced between a buyer’s and a seller’s exchange.

Though the inventory increased slightly in August – from about 27 days to a full month – that increase should be viewed with the understanding that six months of inventory is the widely accepted mark of an equilibrium between a buyer’s and a seller’s market.

The median sales price in the Bend real estate market in August was $636,282. That’s 5.7 percent less than July’s figure of $675,000 – the highest median sales price in any month in Bend’s history. The 5.7 percent month-over-month decline is the biggest decrease since November 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic, in other words.

August’s median price also was 20.1 percent more than the median one year earlier, when the median set a then-record of $529,950. The year-over-year increase we saw in August was the smallest we’ve seen in Bend since December 2020, whose median sales price was 18.0 percent more than one year prior.

Even with the backpedal on prices, August’s median sales price was the fourth-highest on record – all four of those data points coming in the last five months.

A couple of other data points could lead one to conclude that either sellers were pricing their homes too high or buyers were pulling back on what they were willing to pay.

First, the net amount of price changes (combining increases and decreases) was minus-7.2 percent in August. That’s the highest figure for that data point since at least 2014. The last three months have all had net cumulative price reductions of at least 5 percent.

Second, the average sales price to list price declined from 105 percent in July to 102 percent in August, the lowest it has been since February.

Has the Bend, Oregon, real estate market turned a corner? Has it begun to rebound from the havoc wreaked by the pandemic? I don’t know, and all I do know is that I can’t predict the future. But if you’re in the market for a home or thinking of selling your residence, I am confident I can be of service to you. I bring experience, ethics and a customer-first approach to the business. I encourage you to contact me at (541) 362-1031 or to visit Bend Property Search to connect with me through my website.