Eugene-Springfield homes sitting on the market longer

If you’re in the market to buy a home, conditions might be breaking in your favor, according to data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Over the summer, many homes in the Eugene-Springfield area sat on the market without receiving offers for weeks longer than normal.

Kim Arscott, a Eugene Realtor who’s worked in the market since 2012, generally sees competitively priced homes get pending offers within about three weeks. 

In some neighborhoods in Eugene and Springfield, however, homes are sitting on the market for seven to 10 weeks. Across all of Lane County, houses are on the market six days longer, on average, compared with the same period last year.

“It’s more of a buyer’s market,” Arscott said. “They can ask for a lot more in closing. They can ask for a much more reduced price. So I think sellers are kind of having a hard time with that shift right now.”

In the north Gilham area, for instance, the average number of days a house was on the market last year was 35; it is now 71 days. In the Ferry Street neighborhood, it’s gone from an average of 25 days last year to 62 days.

It isn’t the case for all neighborhoods, though. Some areas, such as west Eugene, saw a 16-day drop in average market time.

Home prices, meanwhile, are still creeping up. Compared to last August, the median sale price for Lane County homes has increased by 4.3%.

With the exception of the Mohawk neighborhood, which saw a $295,000 growth in median home sale price since last year, area home prices last year generally changed by at most $70,000 in either direction.

The following graph shows the distribution of Lane County’s home sales across all price ranges.

As interest rates fall, Arscott believes more buyers may take advantage of the opportunity to jump into the market and place offers, at which point it’s possible demand will shift back in favor of sellers.