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Jackson County home prices rise nearly 14 percent Thursday Nov 3, 2016 at 5:01 PM Nov 3, 2016 at 5:49 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness The relentless rise in existing single-family home prices shows no sign of slowing. Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service figures released Thursday show the median sales price for Jackson County homes jumped 13.6 percent, year over year, to $250,000 for the three-month period ending Oct. 31. The surge was blamed on sagging inventory, with the number of houses on the market dwindling 13.1 percent to 906 Monday. "This has been a seller's market all year," said John Mafrici of Park Place Mortgage in Medford. "When there's not a lot of product for sale, that tends to raise prices." Mafrici, a former board member of Oregon Association of Mortgage Professionals, said both first-time buyers and those who lost homes following the 2008 collapse are vying for limited opportunities. "The market is energetic, but it's not on fire like it was previous to the crash," Mafrici said. "We're not seeing a big problem with appraisers not being able to meet (agreed upon) value." Even though inventory fell off, sales ticked up 6.8 percent to 773 units during the three-month period, while new construction in the SOMLS system rose 12.9 percent. (Not all new homes are sold through the SOMLS, and permit data indicates new construction has increased.) Sales prices have risen more dramatically in some areas than others. East Medford's median escalated 20.7 percent over 2015 and has seen the greatest growth of any of the 13 urban zones tracked by SOMLS, with the median sale price skying 76.5 percent to $278,000 from $157,500. Marcy McQuillan, of John L. Scott Real Estate in Medford, participated in the rapid plunge and long bounce. She and her husband moved from California 11 years ago. They sold their 1,300-square-foot tract home in the Bay Area and moved to Jacksonville. "We bought at the pinnacle of the market for $450,000," she said. "We thought it was a bargain, because we sold our home for $720,000." It's been a long climb back, she said. But now a new generation of buyers is trying to fit in with a new wave of out-of-state buyers. She said a couple seeking to buy in Ashland were prepared to do battle when they made an offer on an older cottage listed for $389,000 near downtown last week. McQuillan had coached them to offer full price and sign an escalation clause in a town where the median price is $394,000. "In this market, you always offer full price or more with an escalation clause $500 over the highest competing offer up to a maximum dollar amount," she said. Her clients offered $390,000, along with a home warranty, and escalation clause up to $410,000 — with lender approval. A couple of days later, McQuillan's clients found out they had been outgunned by a cash buyer. "It can get discouraging," she said. "You have to keep in touch with them, explain what's going on, and be ready to pounce on anything new that comes up." Time on the market for sold homes has narrowed by one day, to exactly six weeks, from 43 days a year ago. The median price for a rural house was $349,500, up 9.6 percent from $319,000 last year. — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31.