2006 Portland Real Estate Market Wrap-Up

Year-end results are out and despite housing ‘bubble’ pundits portending otherwise, 2006 proved to be the second most active year in the local real estate market according to RMLS, the multiple listing service in Portland’s metro area.

Over $10.4 billion in real property changed hands through the MLS in 32,830 transactions, just short of 2005’s total of $10.6 billion in 37,991 transactions.

Average appreciation for the area over 12 months was 14.1%–a strong result when compared to the majority of the U.S. The average sale price for a home in the Portland metro area ended the year at $332,600.

By the end of the year, homes were averaging about 43 days on the market. Inventory has dipped recently, though. As of December 31, there were 11,326 active listings, down from the October high of nearly 13,000.

At the current pace of sales, the homes active on the market in December would take about 4.5 months to sell out if no new inventory were added. This is very close to a market in equilibrium–neither a predominantly seller or buyers’ market.

Interestingly, RMLS reports that condos in the area averaged $234,200 in sale price–a 0% increase in appreciation over the previous 12 months. Hmm….apparently supply has caught up with demand.

I will break down average sale prices and appreciation values by area in an upcoming post.

Technorati Tags: real estate, market, activity, appreciation, average, median, sale, prices

Photo by whateverthing. Used under Creative Commons license.

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1 comment January 17th, 2007