Bend led the nation in declining home prices in the third quarter of 2009, besting (if that’s the right word) even Las Vegas, according to the IHS Global Insight index.
Oregonian real estate blogger Ryan Frank writes that IHS’s latest “House Prices in America” report shows home prices in Bend dropping 5.6% from the second quarter to the third. Vegas was down 5%.
“Much of the nation is starting to emerge from the depths of the housing recession,” Frank writes. “But the Northwest, late to the housing bubble, continues to be the last to see the price declines wash through. IHS still considers much of the Northwest to be overvalued. Of the top 20 overvalued markets, nine are in Oregon or Washington. The Portland-Vancouver market ranks worst in Oregon at No. 7. Corvallis is No. 9, Salem is No. 10 and Bend is No. 19.”
Nationwide, “Two years of relentless house price depreciation ended in the third quarter of 2009,” the IHS report said. “Prices edged up by 0.2% from the previous quarter, led by a 2.1% increase in California. Prices still declined from the second quarter in approximately half of the metropolitan areas studied (161 out of 330), but this is down from over 300 in the fourth quarter of 2008.”
However, IHS cautioned that unemployment remains high and a temporary federal tax credit was a big spur to buyers, so maybe it isn’t time to crack open the champagne yet … and definitely not in Bend.
(Tip of the hat to Bend merchant and blogger Duncan McGeary for spotting this item, which our local daily newspaper apparently missed or ignored.)
