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Housing prices in Central Oregon continued their torrid rise through the last days of 2005. The median price of a home in Bend rose 23 percent over 2004, finishing the year at $279,900. Prices in Redmond rose 25.4 percent; in Sisters, 27.8 percent; and in La Pine, 10 percent.
With interest rates rising and fears of market bubbles in some of the country's hottest markets, the average price is expected to increase at least 50% of 2005 rate. Rising land prices accounted for much of the pricing push. After two years of double-digit price appreciation, Bend housing is looking expensive to many workers.
Bend turned up 19th on a Jan. 3 CNN Money list of the most overvalued housing markets, just a few months after it landed in the top 25 of a similar list in USA Today. Researchers at National City Corp. and Global Insight, a financial information provider, used a comparison of median housing prices and median local wages to produce the list published on CNN Money's Web site. Their analysis concluded that Bend's housing prices are about 56 percent overvalued.
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