Let’s Talk Real Estate – May 2016
Over the last 5 years, the median price of real estate in Jackson County has increased 55.6%! What makes these numbers even better is that most of the price increases have come in the last three years. Homes are selling quickly, pending sales are up and the number of homes available on the market is dropping. To everyone’s surprise, interest rates are still below 4%. There is a general housing shortage in Jackson County and new home starts aren’t keeping-up with the demand. From 2007-2013, during the housing crisis, there were very few homes or apartments built in Jackson County and we’re feeling that now. We’ve experienced population and age growth, so lots of millennials are now moving out of their parents’ basements and are looking for housing. Retirees are back in large numbers, including those who tried to retire in the late 2000’s but needed to wait for their home equity values to return, and/or for their 401K’s to return to pre-recession values. On the rental front, rental rates are going up yearly and the supply is going down, meaning there’s lots of competition for rental homes, especially those priced under $1,000 month.
First quarter median home prices in Jackson County up 55.6% over the last 5-years.
◦ Ashland prices increased 45.6%, current median price at $349,900
◦ Jacksonville prices increased 24.2%, current median price at $399,900
◦ West Medford prices increased 79%, current median price at $146,500
◦ East Medford prices increased 42.6%, current median price at $240,000
◦ Central Point prices increased 72.5%, current median price at $222,200
◦ New home prices increased 52.1%, current median price at $250,850
◦ Rural Homes prices increased 28.4%, current median price at $297,000
Inventory of homes for sale is down to 780 homes. A decline of nearly 20% from same time last year.
Distressed home sales are down. Bank-owned sales are down to 4.1% of the total home sales and short sales are down to 1.4% of total home sales. These are great numbers and it means that the number of distressed homes is low enough to not affect the overall sales prices of non-distressed homes.
Homes “Sold” are up 13% over the same time last year. About 80 more homes sold the first quarter over the same time last year.
Homes “Pending” are up 25% over the same time last year. About 50 more homes are selling per month compared to the same time last year.
New listings are down 2.5% over the same time last year—combine that with more buyers in the market and the days on the market has fallen by 32.4%.
Inventory is down to 2.3 months’ supply, which is down almost 37% from the same time last year.
The housing outlook in Jackson County should remain the same for the rest of 2016 as interest rates stay low, the economy picks-up, unemployment continues to decline and population growth increases. New housing developments have started on the old Cedar Links golf course and at Stewart Meadows between Garfield/Highway 99 and Stewart Avenue, but it may be too late for those finished homes to be available in 2016. All in all, the housing market has bounced back and is going strong!