Got the July numbers (market report, on the website readers lower left corner)…..they look pretty good, no matter what people may say.

Closings are down, but pending sales are up, and it looks like the numbers are tracking last year pretty closely.

Prices are flat to stable, and inventory months are dropping. I expect that they’ll drop into the single digits here in a moment…..which would be the first time in a very.long.time. (October of 2009, to be exact)

As the Summer wanes, it looks like it’s been a pretty great one for Copperwest and crew. We have a fine set of listings, solid buyer lists, and a bunch of improvement projects for the fall….The general economy of Hood River has done well too….. Restaurants are full, the Crop is strong with good pricing (depending, of course. They are farmers after all) and there are not less than a dozen, fairly large projects underway…..Add them all up (including the Hospital project(s)) and I bet you are looking at pretty solid amounts of capital investment in the local economy in 2012, and that then again in 2013, with prospects of more, once the Westside industrial issues untangle themselves.

I bet that by 2013 we will see a bump in building permits, ESPECIALLY given the tight rental market and absurd demand for housing for visitors in the Summer…..(though that has lightened up here in the last week)

Even with that bump in potential building, consider, though, that there’s probably 100+ lots in inventory right now…..so, 6+ years of inventory…..that could take awhile…. And then there’s additional lots approved, but not platted….

So there you go. Pretty reasonable Summer, after all that uncertainty. Some reasons to be positive on the horizon….but still the economy and wild gyrations of the market portend a rough patch ahead…. So I guess that means more uncertainty. It’s pretty clear to me that this is the new normal.

The fall looks to host the return of the late Season price picker, (phones are already ringing) and I bet it’s busy….It will be VERY interesting to see how the inventory reshapes itself in January, as many of the homeowners realize that no, the prices are not going up any time soon. I wonder who will be left, over time, with stagnant pricing? Multi-year modification and short sales?

I guess it depends on interest rates, really……whew! Complicated.