Local housing activity strong.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Houses came onto the market at a brisk pace in April, showing an 18.5 percent increase in new listings over the same month a year ago, according to information released Thursday by the Regional Multiple Listing Service.

In Lane County, the number of homes with newly signed sale agreements went up 3.3 percent in April, reversing a negative trend in pending sales throughout the first quarter of the year.

However, the number of closed deals dropped 6.4 percent from April 2006, reflecting a dip in real estate activity in March, when pending sales posted a large drop, 12.7 percent, from the previous year.

The median sale price - the number at which half of the homes sold for less and half for more - hit $242,000 in Lane County in April, up 10 percent from a year ago.

Longtime real estate agents Randal and Cindy Whipple, of Prudential Real Estate Professionals, say that a deeper look at the trends shows houses at the lower and higher ends of the market generally continuing to move briskly, with inventory in the middle - priced at $300,000 to $550,000 - lagging in activity.

"The high end of the market is doing well because of the scarcity of land for development in this area, the health of the stock market for wealthy investors and continuing low interest rates," Randal Whipple said. "Builders are bringing in homes at higher price points, which drives up the median sale price, but it's still possible to find an `average' house - three bedroom, two bath, 30 years old and 1,300 square feet - for about $250,000, although that same house probably sold for $150,000 two years ago."

The middle portion of the housing market has flagged because people who bought "move up" homes for inflated prices in 2004 and 2005 now find them harder to sell as price increases have slowed, Whipple said.

"The market is mixed now, with some (price) segments where you still get multiple offers and others where it's more of a struggle" to close a deal, he said. "The days of just popping a sign in the yard and waiting for multiple offers doesn't exist anymore. But the market here is still quite stable - we've been spared the huge (downturn) that has hit many areas of the country."

Even so, affordability continues to be touch-and-go for many area home buyers. According to a formula used by the National Association of Realtors, a family with the Eugene-Springfield area's median income of $52,200 seeking to purchase a median-priced home with a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage of 6.16 percent would lack 6 percent of the income necessary to close the deal, said Natalie Middleton, spokeswoman for the multiple listing service.