Economy & Business

Eugene housing crunch continues to frustrate most buyers

KLCC | By Rachael McDonald

Published December 10, 2021 at 5:36 PM PST

Bess Blacquiere and her husband Ron own Equinox Real Estate in Eugene.

Eugene, like much of the country, is experiencing a historic housing shortage and that means it’s much harder for people to find homes to buy.

Bess Blacquiere and her husband own Equinox Real Estate in Eugene. Over her 26 years in the business, she told KLCC this is the lowest inventory of houses she’s ever seen. That combined with low interest rates and a lack of new construction has created a shortage. And prices keep climbing.

The "For Sale" sign in front of this home in southwest Eugene was only up for a week or so before the "Pending" sign was added to it.

“We see a lot of people that can’t even get into the market because it’s just rising so quickly and the inventory’s so limited,” Blacquiere said. “And that’s really sad because housing is one way to build generational wealth. It works.”

Blacquiere said she encourages frustrated buyers to keep trying and she hopes things will change. But, she said Eugene is growing fast with about 30% of her clients from out of state.