Fall may be here, but our local housing market continues to sizzle. The Corvallis market ended September with only 1.52 months of available home inventory on the books, a balanced market looks more like four to six months of inventory according to most experts. Notably, while inventory remains low, listings are staying on the market a little longer.
Samantha Alley of Re/Max Integrity Realty said, “Over the past month, the return of students to school has brought a sense of routine to many families. This return to normalcy has had the expected impact on the real estate market. We’ve observed a slight decrease in the number of homes available for sale and a modest decrease in weekly home sales. This trend has been observed across most of our markets and is normal for this time of the year. However, it’s worth noting that these effects have been partially offset by a substantial increase in mortgage interest rates, which is causing homes to linger a bit longer on the market with the average days on market for active listing increasing to between 44 to 50 days in the Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon markets. This is not a huge increase but notable, we are still firmly in a seller’s market, but there are definitely opportunities for buyers.”
Median Corvallis sale price was $557,000 for September – in Albany it was $436,900, and in Lebanon it was $370,000.
As of now, the national average for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage stands at 7.83%, according to bankrate.com. Alley said, “Experts in the real estate and financial industries are predicting a decrease in early 2024 that will allow buyers that have been sidelined to get back into the market.”
Robot Sadness: Our favorite hometown robotics company has grown up, and will be moving their manufacturing to Salem by the end of the year. Agility Robotics scored $150 million from investors over the last year, and now they have $1 billion in sales contracts, and a need to ramp-up to fulfill those orders – hence the new digs.
Agility anticipates hiring 500 workers for its new 70,000 square foot facility – and that doesn’t include the robots that will be helping to build, well, obviously, more robots. The company plans to churn about 10,000 robots a year once they take occupancy.
Founder Jonathon Hurst is a professor at Oregon State University, which now has a sizeable robotics lab and what appears to be a successful investment in the company. We suspect, some portion of the company’s ongoing research will remain local.
Crest Subdivision Wins Appeal: Jim Boeder’s plan to develop 17 acres atop 29th Street cleared an important hurdle during Monday’s City Council meeting. The 35 home subdivision was initially approved by the City’s planning division, but then appealed to the City’s electeds, who have now unanimously rejected the appeal from three area residents.
The appellants now have 21 days to file with Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals.
And Now, a Few Upcoming Business Events…
Going Into Business. 6:30 PM to 7:20 pm, Tue., Oct. 10, by Zoom. From LBCC Small Business Development Center. Free.
In just one session, you’ll get all the basic information you will need to begin planning your successful business! Rules, regulations, financing, customers, markets, and feasibility will all be discussed in this FREE seminar! Click here to learn more and register.
Family Business 360. 8:30 to 9:30 am, Wed., Oct. 11. Virtual event.
Join OSU’s Business College virtually for our Business Success Insights featuring Steve Smith: visionary leader, accomplished entrepreneur, and 2nd Generation CEO of Tec Laboratories. Gain invaluable insights as he reflects on over 40 years of remarkable growth. Steve will unravel the secrets behind Tec Laboratories’ success story and share the formula that propelled them to the forefront of their industry. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a seasoned expert in business leadership and strategy. Register for this complimentary event here and be prepared to be inspired by Steve’s wealth of knowledge and experience. Click here to register.
Paid Leave Oregon Help for Employers: The folks at Oregon Business & Industry, or OBI, are offering a webinar for employers seeking to successfully navigate Oregon’s new Paid Leave program,, but we’ll get to that in a moment, because they also sent us this info, and we think you may want it.
Paid Leave Oregon (PLO), the state’s paid family and medical leave insurance program, has partnered with the Bureau of Labor and Industries to produce three documents to clarify how paid leave works with the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA), paid time off and job protections.
- This document features a list of common questions and answers about how OFLA and PLO work together.
- This document answers common questions about job protections under PLO. For example, employers must protect the jobs of people who take paid leave if they’ve worked for them for at least 90 days.
- This document explains employee and employer rights and obligations when an employee asks for earned paid time off (personal time, for example) when the employee takes protected leave under PLO, OFLA or both.
To keep informed about PLO changes, sign up here for program updates provided by the Oregon Employment Department. You also can check out OBI’s Paid Leave Oregon resources web page.
Finally, there’s still time to sign up for OBI’s Oct. 19 webinar during which PLO staff, including policy lead Shannon Ball, will provide program updates and answer questions. Go here to register.
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