Report: Eugene 5th in nation for fastest rising home prices
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EUGENE, Ore. -- A new CNN Money report ranks Eugene 5th in the nation for the fastest rising house prices in America, but one Eugene real estate agent said the local market has a long ways to go to get back to the housing boom levels nearly a decade ago.
"There are fewer homes for sale right now," said Kit Sixel with Sixel Real Estate. "The inventory is low." Interest rates are, too. "Buyers are locking in at under 4 percent right now which makes their payments phenomenal," said Sixel. Sixel said the average price for a home here is about $200,000. Right now, there are only 37 listings in that price range, far fewer than this time last year, Sixel said. Sixel speculates the people who were forced to move for financial reasons like foreclosure or job loss have been flushed out. Now people who can afford to wait to sell are hanging tight, and they may have to wait for a while. "We're not going to see $20,000-$30,000 added back to their house value anytime soon," said Sixel. "So I just think they are going to be sitting and waiting." First time homebuyers account for a majority of the boom, buyers like Becca Messenger. "It's very exciting," said Messenger. "My husband and I have been working on this for a while now." They weren't looking to buy quite yet, but then they toured a house in North Eugene. "So we kind of thought about it," said Messenger. "Do we really want to do it? We called Kit and she said if you want to do this you have to move now because there is already another offer on the place. So we were like, oh my God.") A day after they put the offer down they found out the house was theirs. On Wednesday, she got the keys their new home.
