April Market Check In ~ Is The Spring Selling Season Upon Us?

April 17, 2026

We hope you are enjoying this Spring season!  We have had some incredible weather early this Spring and the nicer weather usually translates to more activity.  More about that later, but first…

We use exciting and realistic virtual imaging software for some of our vacant listings if we are not able to incorporate our full home staging option for our sellers.  AI technology has advanced recently, providing a high quality virtual tour experience.  Although we must label the virtual staging for representation, it really warms up a room.  We must have high quality photos to make this technology realistic, but with 100% of home buyers shopping online, their first impressions are crucial. Here are a couple of examples…​

​​​​We are also using AI to write attractive ads for the MLS and social media, targeting demographics and language that captures the home buyer’s attention.

This year we are seeing a mixed bag of results in the latest statistical data reports.  Pending sales have increased 3.5% from this time last year, but closed sales are down 3.7% from last year.  In fact, overall sales year-to-date are still declining this year compared to the past 3 years as noted in the image below.  Buyer sentiment is down, which is stifling the market that should be picking up in the near future.  We are always trying to focus on where the market is trending, but it has honestly been a bit of a challenge lately.

Unsettled times still dominate the headlines with stubborn interest rates and Middle East unrest.  The last CPI Report accounted for the increased cost of oil and settled up 0.9% for the month, reaching 3.3% YOY.  This has caused higher concern regarding increased inflation, but some say it’s isolated to the Iran conflict.  Other items, including apparel, also drove the numbers, so the change isn’t solely due to oil.

Mortgage rates are still hovering high above the 6% mark.  This has been the most discouraging aspect of the real estate market.  As rates finally dropped below the 6% mark, buyers felt confident in making more purchases.

Buyers who locked in their rates prior to the conflict made sure to stick with their transactions as they saw the expensive consequences of starting over.  Buyers who didn’t lock in their rate prior to the conflict rushed to do so before rates rose higher than affordability; however, a pool of buyers are putting their purchases on hold hoping that rates will decline soon.  Pending sales should hold pretty strong, but we do expect inventory to continue to increase as buyer activity has slowed over the last month.  It will be interesting to see how that activity picks up as families decide to make moves between school years.

One thing we know for sure is that the market can flip on a dime.  The volatility in the markets has proven that buyer sentiment can change quickly.  It reminds us of how a small boat is tossed back and forth depending on the winds and waves of change, and people are no different.  Consider the volatility of the Fear and Greed Index along with the sawtooth graph of Consumer Sentiment over the recent past.  Do you see any stability here?  We sure don’t.

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Entering the 2nd quarter allows us to rely more on the data.  Earlier in the year, data can be misconstrued based on averages because there isn’t enough time to get a good handle on the statistics.  We often rely on our intuition regarding what we see on the front lines, which is valuable because the data is always delayed.  Currently, the market has cooled and buyers are mostly holding off compared to what we would expect for April.  We’re hoping for a change in the winds toward a calmer and more stable economic culture so people can have the confidence to plan and prepare.  The FED’s next meeting is near the end of the month so there is plenty of time for activity to rest or for more chaos to challenge the markets. At the time of this writing, we expect the FED to hold its current rate of 3.50%-3.75%, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they raised rates by 25 basis points because concerns about higher inflation persist.

Here is a snapshot of our Real Estate trends in the valley…

Current Active Listings (All Types)	2809	Up 5% from last month & up 5% from this time last year
Current Pending Listings	1061	Up 9% from last month & up 3.5% from this time last year
Sold Listings Last Month	639	Up 21% from last month & down 3.7% from this time last year
New Listings Last Month	1128	Up 23% from last month & up 3% from this time last year
Months of Inventory	4.19	Up 5% from last month & up 8% from this time last year
% List to Sold Ratio	98.25%	Up .6% from last month & down 1% from this time last year
Absorption Rate *Based on current active listings vs sold listings for the past month	23%*	Up 15% from last month & down 8% from this time last year
Average Sales Price in All Categories	$506,000	Up 6% from last month & up 10% from this time last year
Median Residential Sales Price Average Residential Sales Price **Based on Willamette Valley Multiple Listing Statistics	$455,000** $512,600**	Up 1% from last month & up 1% from this time last year. Up .3% from last month & up 3.3% from this time last year
Average Owner Occupied Interest Rates ***Based on Freddiemac.com Statistics of 30 year fixed mortgage	6.37%***	Up 6% from last month & down 4% from this time last year
Consumer Price Index Average (CPI) **** FED’s Goal is 2%	3.3%****	Up 37% from last month & up 37% from this time last year

+Some numbers are rounded

​Thank you again for trusting us with all of your Real Estate needs.  Let us know if you have any questions or concerns!