Buyers & Sellers

• The 30-year fixed averaged 7.28% on October 1 per Freddie Mac, the highest since October 2023, up from 6.34% a year ago. On a $390,000 Grants Pass home with 20% down, principal and interest runs about $2,135 a month, roughly $195 more than last fall.
• Grants Pass ended August with 358 homes for sale, down from 423 a year earlier: about 4.8 months of supply against 6.2. Sellers face fewer competing listings, and buyers see a thinner selection.
• Half the Grants Pass homes sold in August spent 28 days or fewer on the market, and sellers averaged 95.9% of their original asking price. At that rate, a home first listed at $400,000 closes near $383,600.

Investors & Developers

• Starting November 2, appraisals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans move to a new report (UAD 3.6) with separate fields for ADUs, outbuildings and condition. Appraisers will record a permitted ADU or shop line by line, so permits and square footage on file carry weight.
• Grants Pass had 37 homes listed under $300,000 at the end of August, down from 60 a year ago. Investors hunting entry-level rentals are competing over a shrinking shelf.
• Grants Pass expects its final Washington-Midland plan this fall for about 8 acres of city-owned land on Highway 99 near Midland Avenue: a mixed-use center with new housing, jobs and services. Corridor owners get an early look at the city’s plans.

Talk of the Town

• Josephine County voters decide a five-year jail levy on November 3 at $0.93 per $1,000 of assessed value. On a home assessed at $250,000, it adds $232.50 a year to the tax bill.
• On September 21, county commissioners let stand the denial of a home on 2.71 farm-zoned acres off Lower River Road, despite the owners’ new soil study. A buyer of farm-zoned acreage needs the dwelling approval, or a clear path to one, before closing.
• The City Council approved on appeal 20 middle-income townhomes and a small park off Fruitdale Drive, overturning the planning commission’s denial. The project brings water lines, hydrants and two fire-engine turnarounds to land that has none today.

Questions about what any of this means for your situation? Get in touch.