The second graph shows median and average sales prices for the county.  Median price dropped for the third year, while the average sales price increased slightly.

Total numbers of sales year to date is still very low, at 116 through the end of September.  Projecting out the rate from the first 9 mos. suggests a total number of sales for 2011 of 155.  Not impressive.

Number of sales still down dramatically from past two years.

Roof structure over the covered deck has been completed.

Interior walls are framed.  Hope to have plumbers and electricians doing their thing next week.

Monday, 9/5, the overframing was completed to connect the main area of the house with the master bedroom area.

Interior walls are being built today (Thursday, 9/8). 

Then, we started to put the floor together.  The 10" thick, various-sized panels are numbered, so it's easy to put the panels onto the foundation in the proper place.  The floor panels are secured to the sill plate with 11-12" screws.  Between the panels go OSB splines, which are glued and later nailed.  The floor was completed late in the day on Tuesday. 

Two experienced local contractors, Garrett Jans and Dave Sobelman, are providing the construction expertise.  And Patrick Sughrue, from Structures NW in Vancouver, WA, has been on site to share tricks of SIP construction.

On Wednesday, we started on the walls, and finished mid-afternoon on Thursday.  Garrett and Dave did the lion's share of the work, and are unfazed by the various decisions that need to be made along the way.

Stay tuned.  The main roof beams are scheduled for Monday am, then the 12" SIP roof will be installed. 

Footings and stem walls were completed last week.  Structural insulated panels (SIPs) will be used for the floors, walls and roof of the structure.  The SIPs start arriving Tuesday.  If we don't have glitches, the main house structure could be up as soon as this Friday.  It will be an interesting week for sure... updates to follow.

We are seeing declining numbers in residential sales prices and numbers for Hood River County.  The YTD number of sales is lagging well behind the numbers of previous years, and has done so since the start of 2011.  It would take a large number of sales in the remaining months of 2011 to match 2009, which had the least number of sales from 2006-2010 . 

These declining numbers of sales are certainly a factor in the more recent decline in average and median prices in the county.  Prices held relatively steady in early 2011 compared to 2009-2010, but have been declining since May.

Below, a bit of data from a non-RMLS sale in late March.  In the same higher price range as the sale pendings above, at $599,995.

More troubling are the continued low total sales numbers year to date for residences in Hood River County.  203 sales in 2010, divided by 12 months, equates to about 17 closed sales/month.  49 sales so far in 2011, divided by 5 months YTD, equates to around 10 sales/month. 

There are 27 residential sale pendings in the RMLS system as of today for HR County, but those numbers do not allow predictions of closing dates.  It all comes down to this - if we are only selling 10 out of 17 properties/month so far this year in comparison to 2010, and 203 total sales in 2010, we can project to finish 2011 with about 119 residential sales - a drop in total sales numbers of about 42%.   I'm definitely hoping for a bit more activity before the end of the summer and the end of the year.

A high level of showing and listing activity continues.  Upcoming June and July #'s will be important components to determine if 2011 numbers can make up the ground needed to match the 2010 totals.

Total number of YTD sales down significantly for 2011, in comparison to 2010.  It will take a big finish to the sales year to approach 2010 totals.

The first is a 50'x100' lot on the southeastern corner of the Children's Park in Hood River, on the north side of Eugene Street.  This lot, and the surrounding lots to the east and north, are undeveloped and have been for sale for many years. It will be interesting to see how this particular lot will be developed.  These lots are one of the bigger contiguous pieces of ground remaining near downtown Hood River.

The second is a home sale on Sherman Street, just to the west of 9th.

The last is a home sale near the Heights business district, on Pine Street.