Bend Leads In Depreciation And Recovery

Bend leads nation in home depreciation
Housing values in Bend have dropped at a higher rate than in any other metropolitan area in the nation during the past year, according to real estate website Zillow.com.
Bend's median home price fell by 21.8 percent, to $167,500, from the second quarter of 2009 to the second quarter this year. Values have dropped 52.5 percent in Bend since the peak of the market in mid-2006, when the median price was $354,000, according to Seattle-based Zillow.
Bend fell the furthest among Oregon metropolitan areas and has had, since the beginning of 2010, the lowest median home value, according to Zillow. Zillow's numbers include both single-family homes and condominiums.
Just last week, however, a Bloomberg Businessweek report forecast that Bend would have the nation's second-strongest housing rebound by 2014, with a 33.6 percent uptick in prices. Only Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash., was picked to rise more, at 44.7 percent.
The housing forecast, done for Businessweek.com by Fiserv and Moody's Economy .com, was based on factors that included income growth, demographic trends, unemployment and foreclosure rates, and construction costs. It expects Bend's prices to bottom in the first quarter of 2011, followed by a rapid recovery.