Portland Area Market Activity - March 2007

March 19th, 2007

Portland’s real estate market shows some springtime signs of life with most recent results through March 1.

The market in the Portland metro area seems to be holding its own through the first two months of 2007. Although we’re seeing continued trends of increases in new listings, plus a slower sales pace, it hasn’t given way to an unhealthy amount of inventory or significant pricing declines.

It is, however, taking longer to sell homes–now on average, 66 days (vs. 45 at this time last year). At the current pace of sales, the 9,901 active residential listings at the end of February would take about 5.2 months to sell out if no new inventory were added.

New listings in February 2007 were up over 22% over February 2006. Closed sales are down about 8% over this time last year.

The average appreciation over 12 months remains strong at 12.8% and the median price is now 13.6% higher than a year ago. The year-to-date average sale price for a home in the Portland metro area is now at $323,800 and the median at $256,500.

The impacts of tightening down on mortgage lending criteria for 100% loans or credit-challenged buyers have not yet been felt here locally, yet. Nor have foreclosures, but many will keep their eye on those statistics–both to measure economic health, and to find potential bargains.

Come back tomorrow for a more detailed breakdown of home price appreciation, plus median and average sale prices for the year by market area.

Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, real estate, market, results, statistics, appreciation, median, housing, prices, average

(Results reported by RMLS, March 2007.)

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Related posts:

1. Portland Area Market Activity - March 2006
2. Sneak Peek at March 2008 Results
3. Portland Real Estate Activity - March 2008

Entry Filed under: Market Activity