As we ease into spring and the busier selling season, it would have been nice to see the inventory of residential real estate listings in Sisters increase in March. For quite a while now, the options for buyers (especially at the lower end of the price scale) have been pretty sparse –– a half dozen Active Single Family Residential (SFR) listings below $250,000; eight or so Active Residential With Acreage (RW) listings below $400,000.
Alas, the flood of new housing blood hasn’t arrived yet. In March, there were just two more Active Residential real estate listings in Sisters than in February (124 compared to 122). And because seven of the eight Closed sales and 15 of the 17 Pending sales were for properties listed below $500,000, the pickin’s for many buyers are even slimmer.
Meanwhile, as the number of lower-priced Active listings decreases, the median sales price for Active SFR listings has increased –- $489,000 in March, compared to $464,000 in February. The most popular price point for SFR sellers by far was the $350,000-$399,000 range, with 11 listings; most of the other $50,000-range brackets had five or fewer listings. RW listings, on the other hand, were fairly evenly divided among price brackets, with no clear favorite. It might surprise some to learn that the RW price bracket with the most listings (by a smidge) was $1,000,000-$1,249,999.
When it came to sales, March was a real lamb, with just eight closed sales (seven SFR and one RW), compared to last March, when there were 24 closed sales (13 SFR and 11 RW). But it looks like sales will be strong again for April; by the end of March, there were 10 SFR and seven RW properties under contract.
Here are some March highlights of the Sisters real estate market, based on data provided by MLSCO on April 11, 2014:
LISTING ACTIVITY
Active Residential Listings in Sisters: 124 71 Single Family Residences; 53
Residential with Acreage)
Contingent Residential Sales in Sisters: 1 (0 SFR, 1 RW)
Pending Residential Sales in Sisters: 17 (10 SFR; 7 RW)
Residential Sales in Sisters: 8 (7 SFR; 1 RW)
Average Days on Market: 207 days for Active SFR listings
192 days for Active RW listings
149 days for the SFR listings sold in March
180 days for the RW listings sold in March
Median Sales Price: $489,000 for Active SFR listings
$723,500 for Active RW listings
$255,098 for the SFR listings sold in March
$255,000 for the RW listings sold in March
INVENTORY
Single Family Residence: 7.5-month supply (114 sales in the previous 12 months)
Residential with Acreage: 7.1-month supply (89 sales in the previous 12 months)
SALES PRICE:
Least-Expensive Single Family Residence Active Listing: $143,000
Least-Expensive Residential with Acreage Active Listing: $209,000
Most-Expensive Single Family Residence Active Listing: $1,950,000
Most-Expensive Residential with Acreage Active Listing: $3,250,000
Price Point with the Most Active Listings: SFR $350,000-$399,999 (11 listings)
RW: $1,000,000-$1,249,999 (six listings)
About the Author
Lisa Broadwater, GRI, CDPE, is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Bend and Redmond.