A Shift in Early Momentum
While I can't quite put my finger on it, there’s a renewed sense of optimism that we’ll see more life in the housing market this year. Maybe it's the fact that rates are nearly a full percentage point lower than they were at this time last year. Maybe it’s the unseasonably spring-like weather. Or maybe it’s just the kind of early-year optimism that wears off by March. Whatever the reason, activity in the market has certainly picked up — and local projections are starting to reflect that.
About a quarter of the way through 2025, I began tracking what percentage of homes coming to market might ultimately go unsold. At the time, things looked rough — the imbalance between sellers and buyers was driving some concerning trends. Now that we’re through the first month of 2026, it felt like the right moment to compare how this year’s early performance stacks up against last year’s start, and where 2025 eventually landed.
Across all three Central Oregon counties, we’ve seen a complete reversal compared to the beginning of 2025. If we were to dig deeper into the reason for the shift in each county, here’s what stands out:
Deschutes County: Improvement here is due to a slight pullback in new listings combined with a stronger uptick in buyer activity.
Jefferson County: Buyer activity slowed a bit, but new listings declined even more, helping the market balance out.
Crook County: This is the only county off to a worse start than last year — not because sellers flooded the market, but because buyer activity has been slower to kick in.
