28-unit Subdivision gains approval from City of TD On Friday, March 21
Site of 28-unit subdivision at corner of Kingsley and 15th streets in West The Dalles. Photo is looking northeast.
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles, Ore., March 23, 2025 — The City of The Dalles approved the 28-unit subdivision in West The Dalles at the corner of 15th and Kingsley streets on Friday, March 21.
JR Pullen of Pullen Holdings now has the green light to move forward on the project.
“I drive by it everyday,” JR Pullen said of the property back in January. “We’re excited…”
This new subdivision will be built on a 5-acre lot formerly owned by the Schultens family with lot sizes ranging from more than 8,000 square feet to a touch over 5,000 square feet.
Pullen is also the owner and operator of Columbia Gorge Affordable Homes at 1320 West 2nd Street. He said his company will also be selling the manufactured homes that will be installed in the new neighborhood.
Plans for this subdivision come after years of low housing stock in The Dalles. Some recent estimates indicate that as many as 500 housing units are needed to fulfill current demand.
Most notably, younger people and service workers who are looking for a starter home are often priced out of the market. The median home price in The Dalles sits around $350,000. Prices jacked up on Pandemic buying to hedge against inflation and the great online work migration have been key factors in this catapult in home prices.
And while many knock on manufactured homes for not holding their value - that is thinking that was borne out of decades past. Realtors are quick to point out new manufactured homes meet building code requirements, and they are proving to hold or increase in value as housing prices continue to increase.
In The Dalles in mid- March, total houses on the market were at 49, according to Principal Broker and Manager Dennis Morgan at Copperwest Real Estate.
That is not an historic low, but it is far off of the 100+ listings that indicate a healthy market, according to some.
Subdivision location in west The Dalles. Boundary drawn by shakes the editor.
The new subdivision will have private streets with a limited home owners association or HOA for street maintenance. Pullen said the HOA will not be restrictive in nature, for example dictating house colors, but rather pay for snow plowing when necessary.
He said he was doing his best to keep new homes in the subdivision affordable.
Subdivision will include the improvement of 15th Street and a looping street to provide access to 28 lots. The streets as proposed would be private and maintained by a home owners association.
“We’re trying to bring affordability back to The Dalles,” he said. “This will be an opportunity for people to buy a home and build wealth… It’s the American dream.”
But it is not easy.
He was still unsure of final house prices in January because he needs final engineering plans to help calculate real construction costs.
Site plan shows the location of lots and street layout.
However, the 5-acre piece of raw land is valued at $500,000, and the cost of a manufactured home with three bedroom two bath is around $150,000. Streets and utilities will also impact prices. A very loose estimate could put the cost at $300,000 to $350,00 once completed.
And that is inexpensive… relative to the other subdivisions that have been approved in The Dalles in recent months and years.
For example, suggested prices on spec. homes in the Park Place subdivision just west of Sorosis Park currently range between $485,000 and $619,000.
Rate to Date
Mortgage interest rates seem to be stuck around 6.5 percent with no sign of change in the near future. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is not expected to make any decisions on the Federal interest rate until June, according to Forbes. The Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions, specifically the federal funds rate, indirectly influence the interest rates banks charge on their loans, including mortgages, credit cards, and auto loans.
Payment on a $350k home $2,300 a month
So for example, a family purchasing a $350,000 house in a traditional home loan at 6.5 percent interest must come up with 20 percent down or $70,000. And if they can jump that hurdle, they end up strapped to a $2,300 monthly payment for the mortgage, property taxes and house insurance for the next 30 years. To be comfortable in a payment of that size, a family should gross $110,000 annually.
Two earners would both have to make $27.50 an hour to make the cut in this scenario. That simply is not happening for many in the service industries.
When WILL the market be right?
It appears two things will have to happen to bring prices down - first a build out of housing that outpaces demand in The Dalles area, which is more difficult than in other places, which are not impacted by the Columbia Gorge Scenic Act and thus hemmed in by strict urban growth boundaries. And second, interest rates must come down to put homeownership in reach.
Read CCCNews’ recent stories on subdivisions and housing projects that have been approved for The Dalles below:
TD Planning Approves Block Size Reduction for 29-lot Subdivision Near Hosptial
Major commercial and housing development coming to Lone Pine in TD; Subdivision sells out
City approves 14 more homes for East TD; Ritchie Wallace's 4W Properties to build
