A home is for sale off of Sandstone Drive in Medford Tuesday. 

Sales of existing homes in the cities of Jackson County showed a 21% decline for the third quarter of 2023, with 501 transactions compared to 638 from July 1 through Sept. 30 in 2022, according to the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors.

The median sales price during the third quarter was $400,000, down 2.4% from the $410,000 posted during the same time in 2022. The declines in both prices and numbers continue a trend that began last year, when the third quarter showed a 32% sales decline from 2021.

Rising interest rates are the primary factor slowing sales, said Colin Mullane, spokesman for the association and principal broker with Full Circle Real Estate in Ashland. The average 30-year fixed rate nationwide was reported at 7.95% Wednesday by Bankrate.com, an advertising-supported comparison service.

“You take interest rates going from 2.75% two years ago to today nearly 7.75%. That’s an incredible difference,” said Mullane. “Money is a lot more expensive to borrow than it was.”

That means someone who could afford a $700,000 home two years with a payment of about $2,200 a month would now only be able to buy a $300,000 home for the same monthly cost. It’s the difference between a fixer-upper or hardwood floors and granite countertops, said Mullane.

Buyers with cash are prominent in the market, with some of those needing to take out smaller loans to complete transactions, said Mullane. Out-of-market buyers relocating to the area from larger markets where they have cashed in equity are still seeking Rogue Valley properties.

Existing home sales showed a sharper drop during the second quarter of 2023, declining 36% from 769 to 489 this year. That drop was larger because sales in the second quarter last year reflected a stronger market with lower rates.

New home sales in the county for the third quarter declined from 85 in 2022 to 70 in 2023, an 18% drop. The median price declined 15.4% from $500,000 in 2022 to $422,995 this year.

All homes for sale had an average of 60 days on the market at the end of September compared to 41 days in September 2022. Days on the market saw a peak of 80 in March, with a low point of 45 days in July.

Total listing numbers have remained right around 800 since June, recovering from a low of just over 600 homes on the market in February. Sale-price-to-list-price ratio showed a slight decline to 95.4% in September after holding steady at 96% for May through July.

Ashland saw an increase of active listings on Sept. 30 from 77 in 2022 to 117 in 2023, a 52% bump. Most other market areas have less inventory than last year. About 27% of the Ashland listings are priced at $1 million or more, said Mullane, with the stockpile of those homes growing slowly as interest rates rise.

“They are sitting there for no other reason than that buyers aren’t there because people don’t want to get mortgages in (the current) range,” said Mullane. “You wouldn’t normally see that many at one time.”

Median sale prices are supply and demand-related, and there is a lack of desire on behalf of sellers and buyers, said Mullane. Current homeowners may have “golden handcuffs,” low-interest loan rates that they don’t want to give up.

Median prices of rural homes in Jackson County saw an increase of 9.5% for the third quarter compared to the same period in 2022, although the number of homes sold dropped to 142 from 156. This year’s median sale price was $645,788 compared to last year’s $590,000 during the July 1 through Sept. 30 period.

Rural homes on 5 acres or less saw a decline in sales numbers, but more were sold in the 5- to 10-acre category and in the over 10-acre category. Median sale prices by category were $533,000 for under 5 acres, $707,500 for 5 to 10 acres and $740,000 for over 10 acres.

Rural pricing is largely a matter of what is being sold and its location. This quarter saw fewer sales of smaller parcels. Rural properties closer to Asland and Jacksonville, and in the Applegate, also bring higher prices than in other locations, said Mullane.

Lock box activity, a record of any time a box is opened at a listed property in both Jackson and Josephine counties, was almost unchanged with 6,903 openings in 2022 and 6,902 for the third quarter in 2023. About 75% of the activity is in Jackson County.

“People are still looking. It feels like they are going back a second and third time,” said Mullane. “But we don’t see multiple offers anymore.”

In-park mobile homes sales in Jackson County saw a median sale price of $105,500 for the third quarter compared to $120,000 in 2022, a 12.4% decrease. There were 64 sales from July 1 to Sept. 30, compared to 58 for the same time last year. Not all park sales are handled by agents with the association’s Southern Oregon Multiple Listing service, so statistic don’t reflect all transactions.