Hood River Real Estate and Columbia Gorge Real Estate

Well…The August numbers are in. Interesting.

August closings dropped a significant 35.4% compared to last year, with Pending Sales dropping 11.7%. This rings true, based upon our experience, but what is interesting is that the average sale price has gone up 8%. The median price has also risen 14.5%. While I’m certain a bunch of Sellers are going to jump on that number and try to stiffen their positions, the next page over tells another story.

Most of that appreciation is over on the Washington side,(huge % gains in Glenwood and Lyle, which could also be due to the limited market history there, but…50% gains,- Wow); with Hood River registering Flat, and the Upper Valley and Cascade Locks registering gains. (As an aside, one of those markets is almost fully made up of high ticket transactions (Upper Valley) while the other, Cascade Locks, is almost entirely made up of more affordable properties. The middle class is missing in this discussion almost entirely).

Since median sales price has gained over average, there seems to be more of a market at the higher end. Has Hood River been discovered? Yeah, probably.

Hood River east side went negative in appreciation by over 10%. Overall, that’s only a gain in home values in Hood River County of….ready for this? .8% for the TTM.

I keep telling myself that we are better off than just about any place else in the country, and I’m beginning to feel we are at least at the proverbial “end of the beginning”.

The shoes are dirty, I think we’ve previewed most of the second and third acts, and now it’s a question of magnitude, not complexity. I can’t imagine our deals getting any more complex…….

Buyers are still in control…..and as prices drop, we find only intermittent Seller strength, as multiple buyers suddenly show up to pounce on a deal. I wonder how long that will last?

From Marketwatch this morning. Hood River is following this trend, and I sense a bit of a bottom…Thankfully….But their points are exactly correct….

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — People weren’t buying many houses even when they could get a mortgage. And now that it’s become impossible for some buyers to get a loan, it’s likely sales will fall further.
The recovery in housing seems to be getting further away, not closer, with each month’s grim data.
The latest report from the National Association of Realtors shows that the number of homes going under contract for sale in July plunged by 12% to the lowest level in six years. See full story.
And, given that some of those people who signed a sales contract won’t be able to get a mortgage on the terms they can afford, the number of completed sales in August, September and October will probably plunge as well.
Housing now has three strikes against it:
The supply of homes is much, much too high. Builders are cutting back on new construction, but there are still lots of new homes hitting the market. Inventories of existing homes rose to a 16-year high in July, a triumph of hope over experience.
Prices are too high. Sellers haven’t figured out yet that the price their neighbor got last year is meaningless. The bubble in home prices was fed primarily by lax underwriting standards for mortgages. Under the new regime, buyers will be approved for loans that they can repay, which means middle-class incomes will no longer support $700,000 mortgages. If you want to sell your house for that, you’ll have to find a rich person willing to live in your three-bedroom ranch.
Getting a mortgage isn’t easy. The credit crunch on Wall Street means that funding for mortgages has dried up. Dozens of lenders have shuttered their doors and stopped lending to subprime or Alt-A buyers. Adjustable-rate mortgages are more expensive than fixed rates. Many borrowers are turning to government programs.
Eventually, of course, the housing market will settle down. Supply and demand will normalize as prices adjust to the new reality. The credit problems will resolve themselves, as investors turn to more trustworthy counterparties and as stricter lending standards become the rule rather than the exception.
In the meantime, prepare for more horrible news. On Thursday, for instance, the mortgage bankers will report on the number of mortgage defaults and foreclosures…