Midway through July and temperatures have yet to reach the summertime
highs that we here in Central Oregon are accustomed to. But, that does not mean that heat is not in the area! The real estate market is on fire, and the rental market is keeping pace. Homes are reaching new median highs and selling faster and rentals are hardly staying on the market longer than a few days. Vacancy rates are down to the point that Vernon Property Management doesn’t even have an available unit for at least another 30 days!
Here are some of my observations of the rental market over the past few months:
Bend is Bend: While this statement seems a little redundant Bend is doing what Bend has done for the past few years, attracting people from out of town at a breakneck pace that has resulted in a highly competitive rental market with rents continuing to go up month after month. This really isn’t a surprise when you consider the fact that a touch over 4 people move to Bend per day, but, if you’ve lived here since the 90’s like I have, it still is a touch overwhelming. Especially if you’re stuck in traffic at 5:00 on weekdays wondering where all these cars came from. New construction has slowed in the Bend area as the number of permits pulled is near half the number that it was this time last year, meaning that we are not seeing a large enough increase in housing stock to really affect the rental market in a dramatic way. Look for more of the same in Bend, if you can find a property that makes sense as an investor, I recommend you snatch it up because if things continue to go the way that they are the appreciation on that property alone will be hard to match in any investment vehicle.
Redmond is Coming On Strong: While Bend is doing what Bend does, Redmond is quietly making major strides as an up and coming place to live and raise a family. In my opinion, Redmond has done quite a bit to make sure that they are catering to the modern Central Oregonian with fantastic breweries, wonderful eateries and lots of very quality recreation available in close proximity. It is very easy to see why people are coming to Redmond as a Bend alternative. This combined with the high number of Bend natives moving north for a more affordable housing situation and out of town people looking for a cheaper place to put down their roots this has resulted in a competitive bump in rents due to the volume of people looking for housing in Redmond. Redmond rentals, at least for us at Vernon Property Management have hardly staid in stock with average re-rent time of under a week. As an investor I would look to find homes in Redmond for sale because the rents are easily covering the mortgage for the homes in the 200’s currently. Also, with the demand for housing and the improvements Redmond is making the appreciation will continue in that area.