This is my annual review of the Real Estate market for Wallowa County Oregon. I reviewed this past year of 2014 to show how it compares to a couple of previous years.  The total number of sales of real property sold within the RMLS (Regional Multiple Listing Service) including all categories of property - Residential, Commercial, Vacant land and Ranches was a total of 146- which is up from 109 in 2013..  The average days on the market for all property sold was 336.

To compare these statistics with the year 2006 which was prior to the market downturn in Wallowa County- we had a total of 230 total sales of all types of real property.  The slow down trend started in late 2007 but was truly felt in our market place in 2008. We have had a gradual increase in the number of sales each year since 2010, with a gradual decrease in property values each year until 2013.  It is my opinion that we have hit stabilization and that prices are currently flat. 2014 has shown the most improvement since the market downturn, so I would predict that 2015 should be a strong year and that we should see values beginning to increase, as inventory is reduced. Market changes typically happen slowly here compared to some of the larger markets and that has held true during this current market recovery. This has been frustrating for sellers but a great market for buyers as values have held down as have interest rates.

2014 Sales of Residential homes under 1 acre of land	55 sales
Average Days on Market: 275-average sold price $147,284
2013 Sales of Residential homes under 1 acre of land	52 sales
Average Days on Market: 307-aveage sold price $141,694
2012 Sales of Residential  homes under 1 acre of land	46 sales
2014 Sales of Residential homes on acreage 1-40 acres	36 sales
Average Days on Market: 310-average sold price $268,823
2013 Sales of Residential homes on acreage 1-40 acres	18 sales
Average Days on Market: 463 – average sold price $290,274
2012 Sales of Residential homes on acreage 2-40 acres	10 sales
2014 Sales of Vacant Acreage 2-40 acres	14 sales
8 acre average in size for an average price of $130,893
2013 sales of Vacant acreage 2-40 acres
Under 12 acres average sold price $192,660	5 sales
2013 sales of Vacant acreage 100+ acres: Average sold price: $290,355, average price per acre $816 ac. (Over 160 acres)	6 sales
2012 sales of Vacant acreage 2 – 40 acres	4 sales
2014 Sales of Vacant Lots in Town under 1 acre	3 sales
Average Days on Market 312 with an average sold price of $37,000
2014   Commercial Sales for property, buildings and business opportunity	7 sales
average sold price of $157,143

2014 over all was a strong year showing a nice increase in activity for homes on acreage and for vacant small acreage. These segments of the market show nice improvement over the previous year and they had historically been quite slow segments of the market since 2008. I predict that values on vacant acreage will start to recover in 2015. The laws of supply and demand are what dictate the values and as inventory comes down in each segment of the market, this will drive the prices up again.

Thank you for helping to make my 2014 real estate year my best yet. I wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2015. Please contact me if I can be of assistance with Real Estate information for you or someone you know. Referrals are always appreciated, as is your continued loyalty and trust. I encourage your questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Michele Baird
Principal Broker