Bloomberg:
The median price for a single-family home in the U.S. dropped 7.7 percent in the first quarter, the biggest decline in at least 29 years, as values tumbled in two- thirds of U.S. cities, the National Association of Realtors said.
The median, the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, was $196,300, down from $212,600 a year ago, the largest decline in records going back to 1979.
And right here in Bend, things are much worse. The Bulletin reports:
Bend’s home sales prices continued to decline in April, down 7.5 percent from March and 26 percent from the same month in the previous year, according to a monthly report released Monday by the Bend-based Bratton Appraisal Group.
The city’s median sales price — the amount at which half the homes sold for more and half for less — dropped to $270,000, the city’s lowest median since June 2005, according to the report.
Prices are declining locally at a rate fully three times as fast as the rest of the nation. So much for the idea of Bend being “isolated.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX6WHvxTYHs&hl=en]Sources:
Housing Prices Tumble in Two-Thirds of U.S. Cities
Kathleen M. Howley
Bloomberg
April’s median home sales prices down in Bend, flat in Redmond
Jeff McDonald
The Bulletin