Our next podcast in our buying and selling in the current market series is here, this time with a focus on the increase in migration into Oregon.
Marcia and I take a look at the effects that all this movement into Oregon has had on real estate.
René Nelson, Eugene commercial real estate broker
Marcia Edwards, Eugene residential real estate broker
Buying & Selling in the Current Market – Part 8
Marcia Edwards: We’ve been talking a little bit about the problem, the shortage of inventory, but while we’ve had a shortage of inventory, we’ve actually had an increase in demand. So not only is… It’s like the perfect storm, because you’ve got a decline in inventory and an incline in regards to the demand side. The buyers are showing up more than ever. In fact, in Eugene proper, they’re up 7%, year-to-date, in buying, over last year.
René Nelson: Wow. That’s interesting. That apartment complex that I rolled out last week for sale, there was a California investor that called in and is writing an offer on it. And he said that he wants out of Los Angeles Proper, because the rent caps, down there, are limited to 3%, where we have 9.2, it’s 3% in LA, and he said he wants to get out of earthquake range.
Marcia Edwards: That’s a common comment. We’ve heard that a lot, and when you have the flexibility that you now have with employers, saying, “See, I can do business from home or wherever I’m at,” wherever home is, that’s made a difference in the impact in the demand side too, because Oregon is mild and its temperatures and opportunities are still abound for lifestyle benefits. It’s a good combination, and would contrast some of those hotter zones like California.
René Nelson: Yeah, and I know, especially Northern California, because of the years of wildfires in the Sonoma area and down there, a lot of people are gravitating farther up I-5, just trying to get out of that continual wildfire situation in the summer.
Marcia Edwards: I just saw, also, in Eugene Proper, the median sales price is 425 now. It’s going up quickly, and that is because the demand from first-time buyers or millennials, often at age 30 this year, I believe the millennials are hitting 30 this year.
René Nelson: Wow.
Marcia Edwards: I know. It’s happening. What does that mean about us? No. We don’t want to go there. In regards to that, what we’re looking at is a real heat from the base line, the first entry point of homes, where it’s three bedroom, one bath, 1100 square feet, that’s where the hottest market is for the demand from the buyers that are millennials and starting out. That’s 40% of the market place is first-time buyers right now.
René Nelson: That is so intriguing. I cannot imagine being 30 or 35, maybe you have one child, and you’re looking at a $425,000 house and the mortgage that goes with that.
Marcia Edwards: Crazy, crazy, but it is manageable, and there are benefits. I was talking to some folks and they went to the closing table and they called me for reassurance, “Did we just do something bad? We just went into 300,000 in debt.” There are tax benefits, and there are a lot of reasons to have the consistency and the reliability of having your own home. You won’t be in that spot where you wonder if you’re going to be booted as a tenant when it’s a pandemic out there. So there are a lot of home ownership benefits still.
René Nelson: That’s very true, and interest rates are super low.
Marcia Edwards: That’s right. Opportunity is still there.
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