Builders Still Building But Home Sales Slow In Central Oregon

BUSINESS 

By Ethan Lindsey

Bend, OR  October 16, 2007 3:32 p.m.

Today, there are more homes for sale in Portland than at anytime in the past 3 years. And so developers and contractors have started to cut back on building new homes.

But in Central Oregon, even though home sales slowed a little, builders kept up their torrid pace. Ethan Lindsey reports from Bend.

Homebuilding in Central Oregon is all about the big, huge housing subdivisions.

That was especially true following the red-hot housing boom in 2005.

And even as the home sales slowed around the state, building kept up.

For instance, in Crook County, one of the region's largest developers dreamed big.

Brooks Resources laid out plans this year to build 2900 luxury homes in a subdivision called IronHorse in the next decade.

Mike Finley, is with the Crook County building department.

Mike Finley: “They're still building houses. They aren't selling em. I don't know where they are getting the money, but they are doing it."

Brooks Resources for example expected to sell 25 or so Crook County homes by the end of this year. But so far only 3 have closed.

Now, Brooks is laying off its project manager, and has cut prices by about 5 percent on some houses.

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