This week the median list price for Bend, OR 97701 is $846,000 with the market action index hovering around 86. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 83. Inventory has increased to 34.
This week the median list price for Bend, OR 97702 is $784,900 with the market action index hovering around 87. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 85. Inventory has increased to 48
This week the median list price for Bend, OR 97703 is $1,224,900 with the market action index hovering around 63. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 61. Inventory has increased to 54.
This week the median list price for La Pine, OR 97739 is $517,495 with the market action index hovering around 50. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 48. Inventory has increased to 44.
This week the median list price for Powell Butte, OR 97753 is $1,562,500 with the market action index hovering around 44. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 35. Inventory has held steady at or around 8
This week the median list price for Prineville, OR 97754 is $525,000 with the market action index hovering around 49. This is less than last month's market action index of 51. Inventory has increased to 61.
This week the median list price for Redmond, OR 97756 is $672,000 with the market action index hovering around 72. This is about the same as last month's market action index of 72. Inventory has increased to 62
This week the median list price for Sisters, OR 97759 is $1,624,500 with the market action index hovering around 69. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 64. Inventory has increased to 16
This week the median list price for Madras, OR 97741 is $430,000 with the market action index hovering around 52. This is an increase over last month's market action index of 48. Inventory has decreased to 35.
Fed Raises Rates for the First Time Since 2018
In the first of what predicted to be a series of several future hikes, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate from 0% to 0.25%-0.50%. This had been anticipated for some time and is part of a move of the Fed’s plan to curb inflation, which is at the highest it has been in 40 years.
What does this mean for mortgage rates?
Mortgage rates have been steadily climbing all year, and a series of Fed rate hikes suggest that mortgage rates will most likely continue to rise. While the Fed does not set mortgage rates, it does influence them. Historically, when the fed funds rate has gone up, mortgage rates have gone up as well.
Mortgage rates are climbing but still historically low
It’s important to remember that mortgage rates remain low comparatively, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way. The higher rates go, the more it will erode people’s homebuying power. People can make their homebuying money go further by taking advantage of low rates... which makes this still a great time to get into the market.
If Mortgages rates keep climbing, it becomes more challenging for families looking to purchase during this home-buying season. This is simply because higher rates reduce the buying power of consumers. High mortgage rates translate into higher monthly payments, along with higher sales price, this pushes some buyers out of the market.
Mortgage rates averaged 4.67% this last week, and that is a one-fourth percentage point increase from the previous week.
This is the highest level for mortgage rates since the end of 2018. If we compare this to year ago, where the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged just 3.18%.
Many economists thought we might see rates climb by the end of the year, but instead we saw it by the end of the first quarter.
The increases in mortgage rates over the last few weeks has mirrored movement in long-term bonds, including the 10-year Treasury. The increases are in response to the expectation that the Federal Reserve will continue to hike short-term interest rates throughout the rest of this year in an attempt to curb inflation. But the speed at which mortgage rates have increased may be because of the market’s volatility. So may be we shouldn’t assume that rates will be moving upward from here on out.
The good news is that so far, home-buyer demand has held up in the face of rising mortgage rates,
With rates increasing refinancing has decreased by about 30% over that last several years and that can help if you are a borrower, because lenders are anxious to find good borrowers, so be sure to shop around and compare rates, as you might find that a lender may be offering better rates because they are writing fewer new loans, and they want the business.
The Case-Shiller national home price index showed 19.2% growth between January 2021 and January 2022. Last fall we saw that home prices, although continuing to rise, had begun to flatten a bit, even that modest deceleration paused in January and we saw the market begin to pick up early in the season.
The FHFA index showed that prices increased the most in the Mountain West region of the country — which includes Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico — these areas along with our own in Central Oregon saw an increased of approximately 23 % in the price of houses last year, which was above the national average.
The question for the housing market now is whether the rapid increase in interest rates will mean slower home-price growth the rest of this year. But so far, the mortgage rate shift has not dampened the housing market much.
There continues to be Increasing sale prices because of pressure from limited supply due to very low inventory— so much so that even a downturn in demand due to higher mortgage rates might not immediately translate into lower pricing, because the remaining buyers in the market are still duking it out to make a deal. Economists are watching the market closely expecting it to slow in response to mortgage rate increases. Stay tuned this year, we will continue to keep you informed.