County's home inventory rising.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

The housing market continues to be a bit of a mixed bag in Lane County. The supply of homes on the market continues to grow, with more homes being listed and sales lagging.

But prices also continue to rise, albeit more slowly than in the hot market of a couple of years ago.

In March, 686 new Lane County listings appeared on the Regional Multiple Listing Service's rolls, up from 599 for the same month a year ago. That brings to just under 1,800 the number of houses that have come on the market so far this year, an increase of 15 percent over the first quarter of 2006.

At the end of March, according to the RMLS statistics, Lane County had 1,577 active residential listings, enough to last about 4.5 months, given the rate of sales. In March a year ago, the number of homes on the market was enough to last only 2.4 months. During the superheated market of 2005, the inventory of homes for sale was just 1.8 months.

Deals closed on 347 home sales in March, down 9 percent from the same period a year ago. An additional 411 sales agreements were signed in March, also down from the year before, when 471 homes went under contract.

That means buyers still enjoy more of an advantage in the market than they have for the past two or three years, with one exception: Home prices continue to go up, although at a slower rate than before.

The median price of houses sold in the county last month - the figure at which half of the home prices were higher and half lower - was $237,000, compared with $212,000 in March 2006. But the increase has slowed considerably, with the bidding wars and instant sales common in 2004 and 2005 fading in memory.

Last month, the average time on the market for a listing was 78 days, well over three weeks longer than houses lasted for the same month a year ago, when 53 was the average.

Houses in some areas sell far sooner than others, however, and at different rates of appreciation.

In March, houses in west Eugene sold in an average of 36 days, while it took an average of 105 days in the North Gilham neighborhood. Price may have had something to do with that gap, as North Gilham homes sold at a median price of $334,900, compared with $203,000 in west Eugene.

The McKenzie Valley follows that same trend, having both the longest average market time - 126 days - as well as the highest median sales price for the first quarter of the year, at $400,000.

On the coast, the Florence area reports a total of 375 active residential listings with RMLS, with an average selling time of 124 days and a median sales price of $213,750. The area added 67 new listings in March, with 28 pending sales and 30 closed sales during that period.