After several months of rather dramatic fluctuations in the median price of Active listings, the Tumalo real estate market experienced another sizable increase. After falling from $649,900 in February to $589,000 in March then bouncing up to $649,900 in April, it rose again in May, to $694,000. That's the highest it's been since December 2010.
It's almost as if Tumalo's sellers were all notified that two of the seven sales in May were for more than a million dollars (and a third was close, at $899,000) and decided to act accordingly. It's been quite some time since any locale in Central Oregon saw multiple million-dollar Residential with Acreage sales in a single month.
Actually, the overall increase in list price can be attributed to the fact that seven of the 14 new listings were priced at $800,000 or more (with one at $3,400,000). In fact, by the end of May, only 12 of the 65 Active listings were priced below $400,000. That's just what Tumalo doesn't need: more competition at the high end of the market, where buyers are harder to come by.
It'll be interesting to see if those million-dollar buyers continue to choose Tumalo as their Central Oregon destination of choice (there were no other million-dollar sales of Residential with Acreage listings in Deschutes, Jefferson or Crook counties in May). If so, a higher price tag may be the trend in Tumalo.
Although the overall inventory did increase slightly this month (from a 10.3-month supply in April to a 10.8-month supply in May), Tumalo is still in much better shape than it was two years ago at this time (when there was a 33-month supply!) or a year ago (when there was a 14.2-month supply).
As a horse-property specialist, Tumalo has always been of particular interest to me because that's where you'll find many of the most desirable horse properties in Central Oregon. Because its boundaries are up to interpretation, please consider the following statistics a general barometer of the area's real estate activity that includes most, but not necessarily all, of the listings in Tumalo.
Here are a few May highlights of the Tumalo real estate market:
LISTING ACTIVITY
Active Residential With Acreage Listings in Tumalo: 65
Contingent Residential With Acreage Sales in Tumalo: 0
Pending Residential With Acreage Sales in Tumalo: 4
Residential With Acreage Closed Sales in Tumalo: 7
Average Days on Market: 237 days for Active RW listings
428 days for RW listings sold in May
Median Sales Price: $694,000 for Active RW listings
$439,000 for RW listings sold in May
INVENTORY:
Residential with Acreage: 10.8-month supply (72 sales in the previous 12 months)
SALES PRICE:
Least-Expensive Residential with Acreage Active Listing: $190,000
Most-Expensive Residential with Acreage Active Listing: $3,400,000
Price Point with the Most Active Listings: $450,000-$499,999 (8 listings)
Listings at $1,000,000 or more: 18
If you're interested in studying the market in more depth, here's my complete report with several charts that capture various aspects of the Sisters real estate market in detail.
About the Author:
Lisa Broadwater, GRI, CDPE is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Redmond and Bend. If you'd like to learn more about Central Oregon, please visit www.CentralOregonHome4You.com
I recently accompanied Jack on one of his horseshoeing jobs at a new jumping barn in Tumalo. Before our visit to 
