I had a reader…thank you reader…who asked about prices for acreage properties. Now I had planned to post this a few days ago, but I was too busy playing hookey due to the nice weather we have had. I mentioned on Facebook today that I thought it should be an Oregon law that no one works when we get our first nice spring weather. I figure we shut down for snow, so why not for sun? I’m willing to be an equal opportunity slacker…
But…back to market statistics.
Now the reader had specifically asked about the Dallas/Falls City area, but not enough acreage properties sell to pull those areas out separately, so I am doing it by Marion and Polk counties. Otherwise there is just not enough data.
So how are Salem Oregon metro area acreage properties looking?
For Polk county….after peaking at $410,000 in 2007, the average acreage is at $325,000 so far this year, which is the same as it was for all of last year. Even with this huge drop (21%) in the median price you can still see that acreage is still running higher than the beginning of the decade. While I would expect the median prices to continue to come down this year, I’m not sure by how much. Since we have a huge boomer generation that is retiring, and acreage is often desired by folks retiring, there may be some offset there just due to demographics.
That demographics positive can also be a negative because those boomers that did save in order to purchase a retirement propery were decimated in the stock market. Many boomers have lost a lot of their nest eggs and may have to settle for not purchasing as much land.
The sales volume tells the story. As property prices escalated, many buyers were forced out of the market and so fewer properties sold. 15 acreage properties have sold so far in 2009 in Polk county so if this trend continues they we will see a small dip in sales volume over the course of the year (which is what that 2009 point represents on this graph).
I do think that with the current state of the economy, and lost retirement funds, prices of the acreage properties will have to come down some more. Just how much is still…to be determined.
To start your search for a Polk county acreage property, or request information about selling a Polk county acreage property, you can just contact me.