Howcast has this great video that was pointed out by Lani Rosales on Agent Genius. It’s a great little summary of things sellers should do to make their home more appealing.
I’d also make a plug for a local Salem Oregon stager if you have trouble picking out flooring, working with your own decor, and coordinating paint colors.
Who knew 0 was such a great number?
Average and Median sales prices for Keizer Oregon
I’ve decided that I really like that number right now. Not -5, or -10, but 0. The Keizer real estate market has held fairly steady this year, with normal seasonal ups and downs. Why do I like 0? Because that is what the average and median home prices have declined in 2008 over 2007. 0. I think that has a nice ring…
Last year the average home price was $228,686 and this year it was $228,417. The median price last year was $214,900 and this year it was $215,000. Flat…0…I like it.
As you can see the Keizer prices started to adjust in 2006 when Salem was still peaking. Now in 2004 the median price jumped 9.6% and in 2005 it jumped 20%. That bump isn’t going to go without consequences with our current economic turmoil.
The Days on the Market (DOM) have gone up, not surprisingly. Homes are currently averaging 112 days on the market. I would expect that to continue to head up this year as Oregon’s unemployment rate has been climbing.
Listed vs. sold homes in Keizer Oregon
Despite the flat lining of home prices in Keizer, it is most definitely in a buyer’s market. The gap in listed homes and sold homes increased this year over last. Sellers that have to sell will have to be well priced and have homes in good condition to really entice those buyers to pick their home over the other homes.
While it is possible that Keizer home prices will just flatline for a while, which I would be happy with, I think the increasing inventory will most likely push the prices down. I would expect to see a mild decline in Keizer prices this year, barring any major economic news, of 5% or so.
For other 2008 Market Reports:
Average and Median Sales Prices for Duplexes in Salem Oregon
A Starbucks coffee card for anyone that can tell those two lines apart…
Not a big surprise with the numbers on duplexes, the average price is $212,108 which is down 7.3% from 2007. The median price dropped 1.1% from 2007. With sales cut but 50% from 2006, the prices are going to have to continue to adjust downward if stability is going to be had in this sector.
The lack of sales in this sector will have to force prices down, if sellers really want to sell.
One of the things that never ceased to amaze me in the past few years was how many people purchased investment properties without looking at the fundamentals. Some purchases had such negative cash flow, I was truly stunned that someone was willing to purchase the property.
That dynamic is coming around as listings are increasing and sold properties decreasing. With the inability to count on appreciation as a factor in a purchase, buyers are going back to the basics of cash flow.
For other 2008 Market Reports:
Land tends to go for a premium out here due to our urban growth boundaries. Despite that I was surprised at the data that came out of this run.
The average price for land was $667,733 up 27% from 2007 and the median price was $303,000 up 16.6%.
After running this data, I ran the cost per acre and the average cost per acre of land was $135,775 in 2008 which was up 28.7% from 2007 and up 204% from 2006 where the average cost per acre was $44,603.
Listed land vs. sold land in Salem Oregon
What is the cause of this big spike?
Nothing really. I think it’s an anomaly that really isn’t reflective of the true market and here’s why. In 2006 55 bare lots sold, some good, some not so good. In 2007 and 2008 with the market slowdowns and economic forecasts, only really great lots sold. The good well-priced premium properties are the ones that are selling. In 2007, only 25 parcels sold, and in 2008 only 15.
Like anything good land is still desired, but there aren’t any buyers to purchase the other stuff and normalize the averages. I still wanted to present this data to you, even though I think the numbers are skewed because many people ask about land here in Oregon on a regular basis.
For other 2008 Market Reports:
Average vs. Median sales price for lots in Salem Oregon
Well…what can I say?
This data is going to stink!
Lots…what builders buy to build those gorgeous homes…that they can’t sell…
Do you really want to see the state of this sector of our market??
See that nice plunge at the end? That represents a 47% drop in the average sold price and an 17.5% drop in median sold price over 2007.
That shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone. With several local builders heading into foreclosure this past year, new construction of speculative homes has come to a significant slowdown.
Listed vs. sold lots in Salem Oregon
That nice peak you see in 2007 is the attempt of developers to unload lots that normally they would be able to sell directly to builders, AND builders that saw what lay ahead and just tried to sell their lots.
Unfortunately to no avail. The drop is not due to increased sold listings. Many builders have taken their homes off the WVMLS market and instead are selling the lots themselves.
I would expect another tough year for our local builders.
For more 2008 market reports:
Average vs. Median Sales Price for Acreage in Salem Oregon
I have talked with many potential buyers for acreage property around the Salem area. Most are people wanting to relocate here, up until I email them some properties and the costs associated.
In the 2008 year, our local Salem acreage properties dropped slightly, almost on par with non-acreage homes…5.4% for the average sales price from last year, and the median sales price shifted downwards a mere 1.6%.
Days on the market? I thought you’d never ask…
The days on the market average for acreage properties actually dropped by two days. Creating an average of 4.8 months from list to sale.
One of the challenges with this particular statistic is the “New Listing Game” some agents play with the data, and the fact that people change agents. So if a new agent is hired it is a new DOM even though the property may have been on the market for a while.
Listed vs. sold for Acreage Properties in Salem Oregon
So where does this leave our acreage properties for 2009? Headed for a decline, most likely.
When you look at the number of properties that are listed vs. actually sold you can see that widening gap again. With a current average price of $497,795…these properties are just out of the price range of too many people. Especially considering that the average price was only $239,413 in 2000. That is a 108% increase in just 8 years.
Hmmm….
So for 2009 expect corrections. Honestly if the median and averages dropped by 20% I would not be all that surprised.
For other 2008 Summary Market Reports for Salem:
With the end of the year comes the frantic number crunching by the real estate industry to see where we ended up in comparison to years past. I will be spending the next couple of weeks going city by city and giving detailed market reports for areas. If you have a question that you want answered or some data run, ask the broker, and I will add it into a report.
This post will be looking at Salem Oregon Real Estate Single Family Homes (non-acreage) Sales.
Where did we end up?
Not too bad actually.
The average sales price ended at $217,824 and the median sales price ended the year at $198,850. The average was down 5% from last years, and the median declined only 2% from last year.
You can see on the chart that we were still peaking in prices in 2007 when many other parts of the country were showed declines for 2007.
Days on the Market for Salem Oregon
How long were homes staying on the market?
Well, I don’t think it is a big surprise to say that days on the market increased. Homes were on the market 18% longer this year than last year. While that might sound like a lot, the DOM still only averaged 4 months. In the world of real estate that is still pretty good.
Everyone has their favorite statistic that they like to use. I like to look at how many homes were listed in a year vs. how many were sold. To me, this helps to show future trending that will occur with pricing and where our market is headed.
Listed Homes vs. Sold Homes
So where is our market headed?
As you can see the number of homes sold compared to the number of homes listed in a year has an increasing gap. This gap has been widening due to the lack of affordability of housing. What we have as the end result is a glut of inventory. Essentially the closer the lines are together the less inventory, hence a seller’s market. The farther the lines are away from each other, the greater the inventory and a buyer’s market.
Buyer demand for overpriced housing has been declining for two years as prices escalated. Buyer’s stepped out of the marketplace as homes continued to become more and more unaffordable. The fact that home prices only corrected slightly, while homes sales plunged tells me that our prices are still too high for buyers. Our supply and demand curve has not stabilized. The average and median home prices are going to have to correct more in order to get buyers back into the market. A 5-10% correction should make homes more affordable and bring more stability to the real estate market.
We will continue to see a buyer’s market here in Salem. It does not appear to be trending towards neutrality at this point.
For other 2008 Salem Oregon Market Reports
Are there any up and coming areas in Salem? I have been asked this question many times by buyers of homes. All cities have those up and coming areas: areas that have a great location, but will need caring homeowners to help to create a healthy neighborhood.
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The Capital Park area of the Richmond neighborhood is one of those areas. Now if you say Richmond to most Salemites, they let you know that the area has long been know as “felony flats.” RIchmond is the area between 12th and 25th streets and Mission and Center. Capital Park and Capital home are a subsection of that neighborhood.
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Due to its proximity to downtown, state workers and Willamette staff looking for affordable housing have turned to this neighborhood. As such there is a resurgence in the upkeep of homes and many of the smaller cottages are now sporting additions.
In 2008 12 homes sold in this area for an average price of $159,483 and 102 days average on the market. If you are a homeowner who doesn’t mind putting in a little TLC and plans to live in a house for a while, this neighborhood may be a good bet for you.
For other centrally located neighborhoods in Salem Oregon read about Englewood Old and East.
Skyway, Heaven, Cloudview, Stratus are all names of streets that make up part of the Cloud 9 neighborhood. …don’t worry cumulonimbus is not one of the streets in this neighborhood. Located in South Salem, Cloud 9 was built mostly in the early 1990’s. As such there has been some time for trees to grow and landscaping to be established.
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Most South Salemites know this neighborhood because the water tower is located there. Before you freak out and rule this neighborhood out of your home searching plans, realize that only a few homes can see it. It is surrounded by trees.
Currently, Cloud 9 feeds into Salem Heights Elementary School , Leslie Middle School , and South Salem High School. A school bond was just passed in the November 2008 elections, which will include building a new elementary school down south. These school boundaries are subject to change, so if the school district is important to you. Please verify.
According to the WVMLS, in 2008 2 homes sold in this subdivision for an average price of $312,450 with 121 days on the market. With such a small neighborhood, there is often not a lot for sale. You can see active listings on my MLS map search .
For similar South Salem Neighborhoods learn about Ironwood Estates .
Global Insights Home Valuation Report
Global Insights releases a quarterly report on home valuations by city. According to their latest report, released in December, Salem Oregon is still overvalued for real estate. Only three cities made the grade for extreme overvaluation…Bend, OR being one of those three.
According to the report, Salem Oregon is overvalued by 25.2%. That means we are ranked 14th in terms of overvaluation. Portland, Bend, Eugene, and Medford all make the overvaluation list as well. Now…in all fairness to Oregon cities…our properties tend to run “hot” to begin with due to the urban growth boundaries.
Other parts of the county that have seen significant declines are now showing up as undervaluated.
While I do think that the Salem metro are will continue to correct over this next year, I think it will be more along the lines of 5-10% correction (barring some major economic change). With foreclosures expecting to continue here, unemployment rates jumping up and potentially hitting double digits, many sellers just won’t have a choice but to drop their home prices in order to lure those buyers into a purchase.
November 2008 Market Trends for Salem Oregon
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