January is traditionally one of the more sedate months for real estate activity. But in the Bend, Oregon, real estate market, January 2021 produced a record high for median sales price amid an environment of demand continuing to far outstrip supply.
The median sales price reached $577,500. For context, that median price is ….
- 29.2 percent more than the median price of January 2020 ($447,000)
- 11.2 percent more than the median price the month prior ($519,388)
- 3.1 percent more than the previous record for the median price in a given month in Bend ($560,000 in October 2020)
The heat of the market was reflected in statistics that go beyond the median sale price. Measures of housing inventory show that when homes came to market, they were swooped up quickly.
The average days on market in January was 18 days. That is a record low for any month in our data set (which dates to the start of 2007), three days lower than the 21 days in December 2020. Looking at just January data from previous years – a comparison that can reduce seasonal variations – the average DOM in January 2021 was 73 percent lower than the previous low, set in 2018.
January 2021 began with 109 houses on the active market, the fewest for any January – by more than 250 homes. Over the course of the month, 138 homes came onto the market (a little less than the average of the previous 10 years). A total of 154 homes were sold – a figure surpassed only once (by one home) in a January in our data set.
The conclusion is pretty clear: Even in an environment of diminished supply, demand continues apace. January ended with an inventory of 18 days, marking the seventh consecutive month inventory has been less than one month. (For context, the generally accepted dividing line between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market is an inventory of six months; we’re at about one-tenth of that.)
For the Bend, Oregon, real estate market as a whole, the average sales price to list price in January 2021 was 101 percent. That metric had not exceeded 99 percent in any previous January. In four price tiers covering houses ranging from $425,100 to $825,000, the SP-LP was 102 percent or more.
CoreLogic, which tracks U.S. housing data, reported that the U.S. Home Price Index in December was up 9.2 percent from December 2019. So, prices are rising across the country. But Bend’s year-over-year increase in January was more than three times the national average, re-emphasizing how much people want to live in Bend. If you’re considering selling your home or are in the market to buy, I would love to be of assistance. I have a deep, broad knowledge of the Bend market and have worked in all types of market conditions. I encourage you to contact me at (541) 362-1031 or to visit Bend Property Search to connect with me through my website.