Good news for Real Estate in Roseburg, Oregon. The US Department of Agriculture announced this week that homes inside Roseburg city limits will now qualify for its Rural Development Loan Program. What that means is that buyers who make less than $96,000 for a family of four will now be able to qualify for a loan with no money down. This could spur growth in a program that last year provided over $136 million and benefited over 950 family statewide, said Rod Hansen, the USDA’s housing programs director for Oregon.

Another sign of improvement is that the Pending Homes Sales index rose for the third straight month which is good news because pending sales lead to closed sales. Record low mortgage interest rates, first time home buyer tax credits and lower priced homes led to this trend. According to the National Home Builders Association, housing starts nationwide improved dramatically and appear to be moving toward the adjusted annual rate of 532,000 new starts. This trend has been improving for the last 3 months as well.

In Douglas County our residential market continues to improve. When you compare May 2009 with April 2009, closed sales increased 15.9%, pending sales rose by 7.2% with new listings falling by 15.9%. That means that some of the pending inventory is starting to sell. In fact, we have 16.7 months of inventory remaining on the market which is down from over 30 months in January 2009. Even though the average sales price is down for May 2009 compared to May 2008 by some 29% it has increased over last month’s sales price by 10.2% ($162,300 vs. $147,300).

I am encouraged by our recent statistics and feel that we should see signs of improvement thorugh the summer months. As you know, Douglas County continues to suffer with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at 18+%. Many of our families are living off their unemployment benefits which continue to support many of our local businesses but those benefits won’t last forever. We need jobs! Encourage business owners to hire more employees to help us sustain a healthy economy.

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Greetings!

Enclosed for your review and information is the April report of the real estate activity in Douglas County for residential properties. Housing prices nationwide are still on the decline and are adjusting to the mid 1990′s price range. Price stablization, with its positive implications for reducing foreclosures, will be a critical factor in the reduction of unsold inventories according to the National Home Builders economists. They go onto say the fundamental demand factors, as opposed to excess demand, will be the key factor in returning the housing market to its balance. However, it is still uncertain when that will occur. Their best estimate is to see positive numbers in 2012 and not until 2017 will it return to the 1.5-2.0 million housing start levels we saw in 2005.

In Douglas County, when you compare April 2009 to March 2009 pending sales grew by some 6.4% and over 18% since the first of the year. It is important to note that pending sales are headed in a positive direction which will lead to more closed sales. We did see a raise of 14.6% in closed sales as well. I welcomed the good news and I am hopeful that this trend will continue.

The average number of days on the market has dropped by 20 days to 168 days or 5+ months. The average sales price in April increased by 18.6% to $147,300 v. $124,200 in March 2009. This is the first positive sign we have in all of 2009. With interest rates at an all time low, a large inventory for buyers to pick from and a first time buyers’ tax credit of $8,000 we are seeing increased sales. Also, our inventory of existing homes is down to 18.9 months which is a drop from 30.3 months in January of 2009. I am encouraged by these numbers because it means that we are gaining positive momentum for the summer months.

There is no question that our economy continues to be weak but there are some positive signs as well. Retail spending in Douglas County is still sluggish but people are spending money on necessities, just go into a grocery store and you have to wait in line to check out. It appears that COSTCO is about to break ground, which we all welcome, for it will add jobs as well as more purchasing options.

Neil

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