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By Greg Stiles February 03. 2016 4:37PM Local housing prices continue to rise as inventory tightens A tally of vacant lots zoned for residential building in Jackson County would indicate there is an ample supply. The reality, however, is that most of those parcels won't be developed anytime soon, leaving many builders to scrap over the few available lots and giving home buyers fewer options as the local inventory of existing houses continues to decline. "If a government official counts up lots, they will say there are plenty," said Terry Rasmussen, a real estate agent with John L. Scott Real Estate in Medford. "The problem is that a vast majority of the lots are owned by a few people. The builders that got smacked seven or eight years ago are building again, but they aren't going to leverage as much because of the risk." The number of houses listed at the end of January through the Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service declined 16.2 percent from a year ago, with just 806 residences now on the market. Demand, however, hasn't receded, with transactions climbing 9.7 percent to 533, versus 486 a year earlier, between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31. The $228,000 countywide median sales price during the period rose 9.4 percent from $208,500 a year ago. The good news for home buyers, and owners seeking to refinance, is that government borrowing hasn't pushed up bond interest rates, helping to keep mortgage rates around 4 percent. "I think they are going to hover where they are at," Rasmussen said. "For a period of time, we heard they were going to go up and up, but the reality now is that they're going to hunker through the year about where they are at." For builders such as John Sellers, who is an agent with Keller Williams Realty Southern Oregon, it requires sharp eyes and ears. "People are picking up little pieces in White City and a little out in Eagle Point," Sellers said. "But the housing inventory is going to stay tight unless investors want to sell, and why would they want to sell when the market is going up?" In theory, Sellers said, there would be movement as prices rose, creating equity for homeowners, who could sell without taking a hit. "That pool hasn't turned out to be as big as people thought it would be," he said. "It's a gradual process." With interest rates closer to 4 percent than the 6 percent figure when the market peaked a decade ago, there is room for prices to rise, Sellers said. Someone buying the present $228,000 median house would make the same monthly payment as someone who bought a $180,000 or $190,000 house in 2006. "I think buyers will keep pushing up the price," he said. As long as equity refugees from California and other newcomers find their way to the Rogue Valley, upward pressure will continue, said Rasmussen, estimating between one in five and one in six buyers comes from out of state. Appraisers remain a moderating component, bearing a greater burden in the process than a decade ago. Rasmussen said he recently had a transaction where a seller lowered his price $17,500 to match the appraisal.  "We no longer see appraisers willing to throw any number out the door," Rasmussen said. "We're seeing appraisals that come in low, and that's keeping price in check." SOMLS reported the median price for 131 rural homes sold during the period was up 6.8 percent to $325,000 from $304,250 a year ago. "There is still interest in hobby farms or people wanting to grow their own food," said Brian Luzny of Keller Williams. "They want some land, but they want to be close in." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or  [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at  www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20160203/NEWS/160209868 © 2016 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->