Daily Market Update: Home goes missing, yes, the entire house

Oregon home goes missing, believed stolen...Phoenix set for surge in first-time buyers...Denver parking lots becoming harder to find

Oregon home goes missing, believed stolen
It’s a bizarre case but a log cabin in Oregon was reported stolen by its co-owner.

The 1,400-square-foot home located in a remote site about 270 miles south of Portland disappeared last week promoting the owner to contact the bemused local police.
County Sheriff Frank Skrah told the Review Journal it was one of the strangest cases he’s ever had during 40 years in law enforcement.

“I was sitting in a meeting and one of the deputies from the front desk came in and said, ‘Frank, you’re not going to believe this. Someone just stole a house.’”

On further investigation is appears that one of three people who claim ownership of the cabin had sold it to a fourth person who had moved it half a mile away. Police are considering if any further action is needed. Read the full story.

Phoenix set for surge in first-time buyers
While first-time buyers may still generally be struggling to put their feet on the first step of the property ladder a report from Arizona State University suggests it may be changing in Phoenix.

The university’s business school has published a report that shows property sales began to surge in early February with homes in the $150,000 to $250,000 bracket seeing some of the biggest gains.

As many boomerang buyers return to the market along with first-timers who are tempted by low interest rates and a strengthening economy the report predicts that sales will increase by 30% over the coming months. Realtors are already reporting increases and first-timers are among them. Read the full story.

Denver parking lots becoming harder to find
Parking in Denver is getting tougher as lot owners sell to developers for offices or housing. The city has seen a boom in development in recent years but while the downtown core has benefitted from new homes and commercial space commuters are struggling to park.

Ken Schroeppel, an instructor of planning and design at the University of Colorado said that loosing the parking lots is not necessarily a bad thing. He told the Denver Post that the development has made the downtown area more pleasant and added it’s a sign of changing times.

"We used to be a car-oriented cowtown that looked at parking as a fundamental right," he said. "But now, as a big city, we shouldn't always expect to find cheap and easy parking downtown." With almost 2000 spaces having been lost in the last five years those who do want to park downtown do so at a premium; fees have risen by a third during the same period. Read the full story.