Buyers and investors are returning to our Hood River market which has a lower-than-normal supply of homes in many price ranges.  This increase in activity has been concentrated in the lower price ranges but this has slowly begun to change.

Simply put, the demand has increased in some price ranges while the supply in those price ranges has dwindled.  Many sellers are holding off putting their homes on the market reluctant to sell at current market prices and hoping for a return to property appreciation.  It’s just not clear when or if that will occur anytime soon.

The number of residential sales  in 2012 for all of Hood River County as of this post is 57.  This is a significant increase over 2011 which recorded only 41 sales during this period.  Of these 57 sales, 13 were bank-owned and 1 was a short sale.   While distressed property sales have accounted for approx 25% of the 2012 sales we don’t anticipate this trend to continue.*

The pending to active listing ratio is in a healthy zone and is bolstered by the low total number of homes on the market.  Still, homes are selling and we’ve even seen some multiple offers.  This is good news.

*Source of information is Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Here’s a short video of the group effort by the Waterfront Community Park Associates (WCPA) and other folks from the community last Sunday, Earth Day.  It’s amazing how far we’ve come!

Mother Nature smiled on all the community efforts to celebrate Earth Day in Hood River today. It was a glorious warm and sunny day in The Gorge.  Quite a bit warmer than last year!

The WCPA (Waterfront Community Park Association) with help from Columbia Riverkeeper organized another community weeding party at the Hood River Waterfront Park. We had a great turnout. Kids got into the action and progress was made in cleaning up the various plots of native plants. Groups and families can adopt-a-plot and maintain it or folks can just help out generally. I remember when this was just a flat and barren parcel just a few years ago. It’s a huge community effort. Check out their web site for more info.

At 3:00 pm  the Procession of the Species began to parade down Oak Street.  This is also in honor of Earth Day. It’s mostly families and lots of fun.

The fruit trees are in full bloom in the Valley.  Cherry, pear and apple trees are full of white and pink blossoms with a distinct sweet-sharp fragrance.  Earth Day this year fell on the second weekend of  Blossom Festival and the timing was perfect.  Hood River Valley is awash in blossoms.

While the number of sales is still very small for any statistical analysis, we can observe a positive trend.  The number of sales has increased over the same period for 2011 significantly.  As of this post, there have been 36 residential sales in Hood River County compared to 21 sales for the period in 2011.

We have seen a number of the stalled foreclosures of 2011 come on the market this year and quickly sell.  Of the 36 homes sold 12 were foreclosures.  For the same period in 2011, 5 out of the 21 homes sold were foreclosures.  Our Hood River County has been spared the large amount of foreclosures that occurred in other metro areas but several were put on the market earlier this year and buyers and investors are jumping on them.

Prices have remained fairly static except in the lower price ranges where most of the sales, including the foreclosure sales, have occurred.  Just about all of the sales were below the $300,000 mark and lower.  If we were to take an average or median price on those sales, it would be very skewed.

Prices are not increasing and, if anything, still have a downward pull.  Yet sales have increased and market activity has remained healthy.  I recently read an explanation for this by Nin-Hai Tseng from Fortune.  She was reflecting on a report from Paul Dales at Capital Economics, and economics think tank, in her post “The one number to watch for a housing recovery.”  That number to watch is the number of sales.  So far in 2012, we are seeing the number of sales increase in our area.  Nationally, they are reporting a slight dip in number of sales yet still higher than 2011.

Buyers and investors are seizing the opportunity of lower prices and extremely low mortgage rates.  We see investors in particular willing to get back into the market and invest in real estate.   IT just could be that the housing recovery has begun.

Land sales appear to be on the increase for 2012.  Since 2007 we have been experiencing a very slow market for land.  There was the general downturn in housing, including both existing homes and new construction, but financing for land sales themselves became extremely difficult.  Speculative building just about came to a standstill because banks would not finance it.  Still, home buyers who were trying to buy land and build on it encountered very difficult lending criteria.  Banks didn’t want to lend on land and construction loans have required large down payments with rigorous qualifying criteria.

What we have seen during this period is that most land sales have been all cash and now that prices have dropped significantly in 2012, the door is opening for more buyers to be able to afford to buy land and then look to construction financing.

The fact that year-to-date we have had10 land sales is significant and the fact that 8 of those sales were cash underscores the lending situation.  For all of 2011 there were 18 sales,  including 2 commercial parcels and one farm/forest parcel, with 9 of the total sales all cash. For 2010 there were 24 land sales with 19 of those cash sales.   Those sales included 3 commercial and 1 farm/forest parcel.  For 2009, 20 parcels sold, 15 of which were cash.  Thoses sales included 1 commercial and one farm/forest sale.

So, the fact that we are seeing 10 sales within the first quarter of 2012 is a definite increase and a positive sign.  So far these have been all residential parcels.  The land prices are the lowest we have seen for many years and folks who are looking to build are getting back into the market.

I visited the  lower plateau of the Tom McCall Preserve this past Sunday to see if the spring flowers were beginning to emerge.  I wasn’t disappointed!  A few grass widows in the sunnier areas have sprouted with more to come.  It’s the beginning of the spring flower show and I love to return often during this period to enjoy the variety of flowers that come back year after year.

It was windy – no surprise – so I muted it as much as possible.

The pending-to-active listings ratio has remained above 20% through the first two months of 2012 and indicates a more active  real estate market for Hood River County.   This early in the year, our numbers are too small to provide meaningful statistical analysis, but we can make some observations.  For January and February of 2012 there were 23 residential sales in Hood River County as compared to 13 for the same period 2011.  We all remember that the beginning of 2011 was rather dismal.  This increase is welcome.

Of those 23 sales, 10 sales were of REO – bank-owned- properties.  At this point it appears that the properties sold were the foreclosures pulled off of the market in 2011 as the banks worked through the various issues surrounding title, etc.  Foreclosures have not been a large part of the Hood River market but the timing is such that they are coming on the market now and being sold very quickly.  Of the same 23 sales, 9 were cash buyers.     Some of these all cash buyers are investors  and this trend mimics the national trend as well.  As a long-term investment strategy, it makes sense to buy at the bottom of the market.

We expect to see some more REO properties from 2011 come on the market in the short term.  It’s healthy that these properties are cleared out of the market because they do sell at lower price points.

Comparing the most recent 12 month period, March 2011 through February 2012, with the prior 12 month period, we can see that sales price percent changes year-to-year remain low.  Most residential sales occur in the City of Hood River and Westside and that’s why I like to use them to provide a snapshot of the market.  The average price during the compared periods declined by approx 4.7%, from $327,386 to $311,879.  The median price declined by 4.2% from $287,000 to $275,000.

These are relatively small changes and a continuing indicator that the market is stabilizing and we’re still looking good.

Source of date is RMLS.

The uptick in market activity has continued from the end of 2011 into 2012.  A good measure of this is the pending-to-active listings ratio which is currently at 21% for Hood River County and it is a positive sign.

Nationally we are getting reports on the economy indicating that slowly jobs are being added and the unemployment rate is decreasing.  While this represents a national trend it serves to bolster confidence on both the local and national levels.  Perhaps we have turned the corner and are moving away from uncertainty and the fear of further decreases.  Only time will tell of course, but this level of market activity coupled with sales prices that suggest our local market is stabilizing are sufficient grounds for an upbeat outlook in my book.

Let’s take a look a some numbers.  In Hood River County most of the sales occur in the City of Hood River and Westside and I like to combine them to get a quick snapshot.  Using these areas, we can compare the past rolling twelve month period with the earlier period.  For the period from February 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012, there were 120 residential sales compared to 137 sales from February 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011, which represents an approx 12% decrease.

Looking at the average sales prices for these areas and same rolling twelve-month period, the average price was $313,711 compared to $329,629 for the earlier period.  That’s a decline of 4.8%.  The median sales price was $275,000 which represents an approximate decrease of 5%.  As long as we’re within the 5% fluctuation range this is generally considered relatively stable.

Also upbeat is that Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist, suggests there will be positive fallout from the recent white paper issued by the Federal Reserve Board , “The U.S. Housing Market: Current Conditions and Policy Considerations.”  The Fed found that, “Continued efforts are needed to find an appropriate balance between prudent lending and appropriate consumer protection, on the one hand, and not unduly restricting mortgage credit on the other hand.”  The overly tight and restrictive lending climate has certainly had a dampening effect on the housing market. both locally and nationally, and NAR has been urging this review for some time.

So, we’re off and running and already one month through 2012.  Stay tuned!

Here in Hood River we have been experiencing cold and sunny weather with no precipitation – no rain or snow!  I know there are folks anxious for snow to accumulate on Mt Hood but these clear, calm, sunny days are rather spectacular.  The days are short but the mornings are sunny and it’s really quite pleasant.

I went down to The Hook on the first day of Winter, December 22nd, and shot this video.  Very peaceful.

On the local front, we are seeing our inventory shrink and the number of sale pendings remain in healthy but not robust range.  Buyers are recognizing the tremendous opportunities of low prices and low interest rates and taking action. Yes, we are still hampered by the difficult lending conditions, but contracts are being made and sales are closing.  Properties that come on the market at current market prices often go pending quickly.

Total number of sales  has remained lower than 2010 by approx 20%.  As of this post, there have been 113 closed residential sales in the two most active areas of Hood River County –  Hood River and Westside.  For the same period in 2010, there were 141 sales.  As is typical for our market, there were monthly sales totals  in the double digit range from May through September in these areas.  It is likely that December sales will mark a return to that double digit range.

Sales prices appear to be moving towards stability or, put another way,  the bottom appears to be  firming up.  The percent change for year-to-date 2011 is remaining within a 5% range.  So far the average sold price is $321,885 compared to $324,877  for the same period in 2010 –  a small decline of about 1%.  The median sold price is at $275,000 versus $290,000 for 2010 which represents an approx 5% decline.

Our small-sized market has been skewed for the past couple years towards  sales below $300, 000 with few sales occurring in the higher price ranges.  This has been mostly due to lending difficulties for jumbo loans,  difficult appraisal  conditions along with the slow market conditions.  I can report that there have been at least 5 sales above $550,000 in this 4th Quarter.  It’s good news but we can’t really know that it represents a trend.

There’s still a lot of negative news  out there on both the national and global level but it sure seems like there are increasing reports of positive news.   For one, the jobs reports are improving which will eventually impact real estate.  If you have a job or feel more secure in your job, you’ll more feel confidant in investing in real estate.  Additionally there have been other positive economic indicators such as  consumer confidence.   Most indications are that we will see home prices flatline into 2013 and that will be welcomed news.

Downtown Hood River is bustling with activity.  Folks are coming from out of town to shop in our unique area and many locals are eagerly supporting our local economy as best they can.  GO! Gorge Owned Business Network has launched a great campaign to encourage shopping local – and locals are enthusiastically on board.