Real estate recovering in Sisters

The World Trade Center attack last September 11 sent shock waves through the local economy, including what had been a tremendous real estate market in Sisters.

Sales virtually came to a grinding halt, according to some local real estate and title companies last fall. But business has picked up since Christmas, especially since spring vacation.

"People jumped on the fence last fall, and now they are jumping off (and back into the market) because they have a better outlook on what the future is going to be," said Rad Dyer of Ponderosa Properties in Sisters.

Dyer said that not only are more people looking for real estate, but actual sales activity has been good, since interest rates have remained low.

Mike Reed of Coldwell Banker Reed Bros. Realty in Sisters said sales in November and December 2001 were slow, with a total of 26 sales in the Sisters area.

Over the first quarter in 2002, Reed said there were 54 Multiple Listing Service sales in the Sisters area, compared to 43 in the first three months of 2001, 49 in 2000 and 51 in the first quarter of 1999.

Dyer and Reed agreed that there was a "pent-up demand" for real estate, either because of sales lost after September 11 or the lack of properties for sale over the winter.

"Winter is traditionally a slower season...we had a tough time getting inventory, what we could get ahold of we could sell," said Reed.

As a result, Reed feels that "the number of days a property is on the market is generally shorter than we have seen in the past."

Dyer said that there are more properties on the market in the spring and currently "buyers have something new and fresh to look at."

Dyer believes that land values are increasing in the Sisters area. "Construction costs are also up, so new house prices are up, and that has a tendency to lift prices" for resale, he said.