| OCTOBER
9, 2006
In the face of reports of a declining
housing market nationwide, Lake Oswego’s Renaissance
Homes is on track to increase it 2006 sales by 40 percent
over 2005, according to company president Randy Sebastian.
Through the first eight months of this
year, Sebastian’s firm had $114 million in sales,
up from $71 million during the same period last year.
There’ve been changes in the
market this year, largely due to a change in attitude
brought on by a series of media stories about the housing
market. To some extent, they’ve been a self fulfilling
prophecy, said Sebastian.
“But really what we’ve
seen is a return to normal, after several years of an
unbelievably overheated housing market,” he said,
arguing that little has changed in terms of fundamentals.
Interest rates are near historic lows
and Oregon continues to outperform much of the rest
of the nation in terms of growth, two trends which might
point to continued strength in this state’s housing
market.
Oregon now has 3.65 million people.
The population has grown 220,000 in the last five years,
according to the US Census Bureau. Oregon and Washington
are among the 10 fastest growing states in the country,
outside of Virginia, the only non-sunbelt states on
the list, Sebastian said.
“People are continuing to move
to Portland and to Central Oregon seeking new life styles,
career changes or to take new jobs. This points to a
continuing to need for a substantial amount of new housing,”
said Kim Whitman, Renaissance Sales and Marketing Vice
President.
California has more than 35 million
people and Whitman believes many are looking for a place
like Oregon. In fact, Renaissance is running an advertisement
in San Francisco headlined “Escape to Oregon”.
Today, Renaissance buyers are more
aggressively pursuing what they want which means “they
aren’t as quick to buy and we’re having
to work harder to make it happen. Today we have inventory
available. That’s a change. There has been a change
in the sense of urgency,” said Whitman.
Although sales at Peterkort, Renaissance’
first townhome neighborhood, have been particularly
strong, Whitman said both east and west sides in Portland
have seen good sales. The Vancouver/Camas area, where
the firm has recently opened several neighborhoods,
is absorbing more slowly due to a large number of homes
on the market.
In the last few months of 2006, Whitman
and Sebastian said homebuilders will need continue being
attuned to buyer wants. For instance, he said master
bedroom on the main floor models have become quite popular
at all age levels.
“Initially, the master-on-main
homes were designed for an aging ‘boomer’
population. As people have seen them in our models,
though, they’ve become popular across the age
spectrum. We have a good selection of those models,”
Whitman said.
Renaissance Homes
16771 Boones Ferry Road
Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035
Voice: 503-636-5600
Fax: 503-635-8400
Emergency Service: 503-496-0711 or 866-567-6225
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