Articles have been light lately here at re:PDX (it’s the busy season, you know!), but here are a few items from the past couple weeks about Portland’s real estate market and activity, as well as lifestyle:
Portland home market cools — The Oregonian
Condo and house prices are up over last year, but it’s taking longer for properties to sell
More Than 430,000 Foreclosure Filings Reported in Q1 — RealtyTrac
U.S. Foreclosure Activity Up 27 Percent From Previous Quarter, Nevada, Colorado, Georgia Post Highest Foreclosure Rates (Oregon is 27th in nation, one foreclosure filing for every 664 homes, up 9% over same period in 2006)
36 Hours in North Portland: The Real Deal – More Hockey Less War
A North Portland blogger shares his version of the NY Times article (above). Note: language may not be family-friendly.
The HBA and the Oregonian also sponsor the summertime Street of Dreams, but this tour sprawls across the metro area instead of just one development site.
Scheduled for April 20-22 and April 27-29, the home tour includes open houses for 77 condos, townhomes, and custom homes built by the area’s leading local builders including Beacon Homes, Buena Vista, Arbor, Legend, Renaissance, JC Reeves, Morrissette, Taurus, and Wilshire. A couple national production builders, Centex and D.R. Horton are also featured.
Frankly, I think it is a better opportunity to see some of the smaller custom builders (like Intex and J.T. Roth), since the larger companies have open models every weekend at their sales sites.
The tour predominantly features the west side (Beaverton, Tualatin, Tigard, Hillsboro, Sherwood), but there are some east side sites in Happy Valley, Clackamas, and Beavercreek.
You can get more information at the tour’s website, or grab a guidebook from local Fred Meyer locations. The website has a link to an interactive map, but alas, it takes you to the virtually unusable OregonLive site to plot your tour stops. The tour planner is a little clunky, but it does provide stop-by-stop directions.
The conundrum posed by a real estate market that is experiencing fewer sales and longer marketing times juxtaposed against continued above-average appreciation rates for housing in the Portland area is leading to an epidemic of odd, head-scratching behavior.
At least my head, anyway.
March 2007 results published by RMLS show a continued trend of more listings and fewer sales, which equals more inventory and longer ‘days on market’. Yet, the overall metro market is appreciating at over 12%. An interesting puzzle, indeed.
The numbers, year-to-date:
Average sale price: $327,800 (vs. $292,100 in 2006)
Average market time: 65 days (vs. 45 days in 2006)
New listings: 13,697 (vs. 11,383 in 2006)
Closed sales: 6,359 (vs. 6,781 in 2006)
Average appreciation: 12.2%
Inventory: 3.8 months (vs. 2.0 months in 2006)
The market appears to have reached equilibrium with incoming listings and pending/closed sales. Since hitting a peak inventory of 6.2 months in January, a balanced ratio of new listings vs. closed sales has settled out at 3.8 months available inventory.
Suburban communities such as Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, and Yamhill County show the greatest appreciation strength, and inside the city limits, North Portland and Southeast Portland show the best gains.
Below are the 12-month average and median sale prices, plus 12-month average appreciation compared to the same period last year, sorted by market area:
Area
YTD Avg. Sale Price
YTD Median Sale Price
12-Mo. Appreciation
Lake Oswego / West Linn
$518,900
$445,000
13.1%
West Portland
$431,100
$368,700
8.2%
Tigard/Tualatin/ Sherwood/Wilsonville
$378,200
$336,000
6.2%
NW Washington County
$380,400
$350,000
8.4%
Milwaukie / Clackamas
$350,200
$310,000
15.5%
Oregon City / Canby
$315,500
$294,600
12.2%
Northeast Portland
$304,400
$266,900
11.5%
Hillsboro / Forest Grove
$298,600
$268,000
14.5%
Beaverton / Aloha
$288,200
$261,200
9.7%
Gresham / Troutdale
$279,300
$253,800
14.6%
Southeast Portland
$278,000
$245,000
14.7%
Yamhill County
$274,200
$246,400
17.7%
North Portland
$258,000
$241,500
13.9%
Columbia County
$256,700
$245,000
14.7%
Photo by: frogmuseum. Used under Creative Commons license.
Q1 2007 is in the books, and while the Portland metro area real estate market will not be setting any new sales records this year, neither has the sky hasn’t fallen, either.
Yes, inventory is up. Listings are taking longer to sell. But, we’re comparing numbers to the record years of 2005 and 2006, so our perspective is somewhat skewed, yes? Buyers have more choices and are being pickier than when the market had low, low inventories.
According to the RMLS, the metro area’s multiple listing service, the average amount of time to market a home to an accepted offer is still hanging at 65 days. The current inventory of homes would sell out in 4.9* 3.8 months at the current rate of sales.
The average sale price, year-to-date, is $328,500* $327,800 and the median weighs in at $280,000* $275,500.
Twelve-month average and median price comparisons with the same period the year before show that homes in the Portland area are appreciating at 12+%.
Coming soon, average and median sale prices, as well as 12-month appreciation rates by market area.
Time to catch up on some local and national real estate story links.
Group predicts median home prices will drop — MSNBC
Decline this year will be first since values began being tracked in late ’60s
(Will it happen in Portland? We’ll see . . . )
Portland’s Leading Alternative Paper Puts Out Its Cheeky Real Estate Viewpoint - Willamette Week
HABITAT: The Plunge
Buy a house? Here’s why you should stop worrying and become your own landlord.
And just for fun…..
Real Estate Roller Coaster - A depiction of housing prices from 1890 to the present, as charted on a roller coaster ride. (A little long, but is interesting to see what awaits us around the next bend after such a long run-up.)
With the housing market in a bit of flux currently, we’re seeing more owners are taking the opportunity to plow their money into fixing up their existing home as opposed to cashing out and moving on.
The DIY and remodeling craze (along with social networking resources) has a cottage industry (pun intended!) of blogs devoted to documenting owners’ projects. Today’s Oregonian (go to bottom of the page of this link) briefly touched on the appearance of diaries devoted to homeowner’s remodel projects.
Many of the reno-blogs I’ve seen offer before-and-after shots and helpful advice about sourcing materials and construction basics. Many invite comments and pose questions to their readers. But some also document the emotional and financial drain (in addition to the disruption of everyday life), that these projects can cause. (Anyone remember the Money Pit, made before Tom Hanks became a perennial Oscar nominee?)
If you’re a fan of rehabbing, remodeling, restoration and the like, log on to houseblogs.net, a fairly comprehensive and tight-knit community of remodel-bloggers. Share the pain and the joy, the agony and the ecstasy, the trials and tribulations, the flub-ups and the workmanship pride of these intrepid rehabbers. May they serve as inspiration (or at least, a good warning)!
For residents with busy lifestyles, or those that require low maintenance ownership, or some needing affordable housing options, the modern condominium or townhouse has become a much more popular form of property ownership in the past several years.
But has the condo craze crested in Portland?
As with the detached, single-family housing market in the Portland area, the condo and townhome market is experiencing something of a listing glut. My analysis of the multiple listing service shows that there are two and a half times more condo/townhome inventory on the market than May 2006. Over 2,450 listings now sit active on the market, and this doesn’t include by-owner sales, private listings, and in-house listings.
What constitutes the ‘average’ condo these days? As of April 9, 2007, the average condo in the Portland metro area was listed for $360,500, had 1,360 sq. ft., and has been on the market around 95 days.
Below are the current (again, as of April 9, 2007) active condo and attached listings, sorted by community area. The greatest number of condos can be found in the Portland West area, which includes the downtown core.
Area
Listings
Avg. List Price
Avg. Sq. Ft.
$ per sq. ft.
DOM
West Portland
777
$552,339
1,298
$425
123
Southeast Portland
248
$272,387
1,366
$199
77
Beaverton / Aloha
240
$236,415
1,428
$166
54
Tigard / Tualatin / Sherwood / Wilsonville
201
$262,558
1,372
$191
128
Lake Oswego / West Linn
190
$341,063
1,327
$257
78
Northeast Portland
173
$253,704
1,193
$213
76
NW Washington County
124
$202,566
1,048
$193
73
Hillsboro / Forest Grove
120
$268,396
1,627
$165
70
Gresham / Troutdale
109
$248,230
1,619
$153
68
North Portland
97
$402,548
1,475
$273
206
Milwaukie / Clackamas
83
$306,530
1,584
$194
51
Oregon City / Canby
52
$254,473
1,595
$160
50
Yamhill County
44
$207,585
1,414
$147
34
TOTAL OR AVG
2,458
$360,522
1,361
$265
95
A few caveats….Remember that most condos under development do not put their pre-sales (or under construction) listings in the Multiple Listing Service. Also, the city center listings include 168 properties in ‘under construction’ status, averaging $757,000 and 1,448 sq. ft., and 229 days on the market. In all market areas, the days on market averages can be heavily impacted by projects under construction.
Property owners in the city center are perhaps at most risk. An unprecedented period of new construction in the Pearl District, the South Waterfront, Northwest, and now the Pearl extension has added hundreds and hundreds of lofts, 1- and 2-bedroom properties at what is now over $500 per sq. ft. One ‘casualty’ of the condo glut was the recent news that the Ladd Tower would be developed as a luxury apartment complex, perhaps in response to both the trends in new construction and an improving rental market.
Properties such as the Strand, Riverscape and the Meriwether have several listings in the MLS. More units will be coming on the market over the next several months as projects near their completion date, including the Benson, Waterfront Pearl, the Casey, the Wyatt, the Civic, the John Ross and the Metropolitan. What speculative investors that are left in town will likely be placing their unlived-in units on the market upon closing.
Outlying areas are also experiencing a bulge in listings, but my guess is that they will absorb these listings in a timely manner. And with the income from rental property on the upswing, I suspect we’ll see fewer condo conversions of apartment complexes.
Buds and blossoms are bursting forth here in Portland as we enter 70-degree spring days.
Springtime’s early harbingers, iris, daffodils, and tulips, are at their peak. Lawns are greening up with a quick shot of fertilizer. It reminds you of the landscaping you see at the Masters tournament at Augusta. You step back and note how good your home might look to a potential homebuyer.
The problem? You aren’t planning to sell until later in the year. Perhaps at a time of year when your garden is fallow. Or when it is 43 degrees and drizzly. Or late summer, when it’s tough to keep that lawn from browning a bit.
No problem…plan ahead. You need to take photographs now if you want show potential buyers later in the year what your home looks like during the peak blooming months of spring. Pull out your camera on a bright day. Try different lighting conditions. Be careful of too many shadows creeping in and muddying up your shots.
Tuck them away on your computer and when your real estate agent comes calling to put your listing active, let them review your bright shots of daffodils, plums and cherries, azaleas, and more.
If you don’t use the pictures in your listing photos, you can put them in a photo album on your countertop or in an expanded online photo tour. Since nearly 80% of homebuyers are now using the Internet to begin their hunt for a home, you want to put your best foot forward in the visual marketing of your home.
Even if you plan to sell in the summer, fall, or winter, capture your home’s springtime curb appeal now. You (and your agent) will be glad you did.
If this month’s issue of Portland Monthly seems a little dog-eared and grimy on the newsstand, it is likely a result of local residents riffling through the heavily ad-laden mag to see if their neighborhood made the top 20 list.
Yes, it’s time once again for Portland Monthly’s 20 Best Neighborhood issue.
The nascent South Waterfront gets the top billing, and the Pearl gets mentioned twice, but the issue touches on a diverse list of environs, even stretching as far as Sauvie Island, Damascus, and McMinnville. It is admittedly a subjective list, but writers do a nice job capturing the livability factors that might appeal to new residents.
PM’s top choices include:
South Waterfront
Pearl District (extension)
Damascus
North Bethany
Ladd’s Addition
Portland Heights
University Park/John’s Landing
Sauvie Island
Orenco Station
New Columbia
Richmond
Piedmont
Sellwood-Moreland
West Linn
Northwest District
Mount Tabor
Alberta Arts
Pearl/Downtown
McMinnville
Multnomah Village
The magazine also rates 95 neighborhoods within Portland’s city limits and about 25 close-by cities and suburbs. The tables compile real estate values, school performance, population, diversity, crime rates, parks, transportation, and services.
Portland Monthly does not publish their articles online, so pick up your copy at a local grocery or newsstand. For out-of-towners or those reading this after the publication has expired, contact me for an emailed copy.
Articles have been light lately here at re:PDX (it’s the busy season, you know!), but here are a few items from the past couple weeks about Portland’s real estate market and activity, as well as lifestyle:
If you’re in the touring mood over the next couple weekends, you’ll have the opportunity to see over 75 new homes throughout the Portland metro area at the 
The conundrum posed by a real estate market that is experiencing fewer sales and longer marketing times juxtaposed against continued above-average appreciation rates for housing in the Portland area is leading to an epidemic of odd, head-scratching behavior. 
Q1 2007 is in the books, and while the Portland metro area real estate market will not be setting any new sales records this year, neither has the sky hasn’t fallen, either.
With the housing market in a bit of flux currently, we’re seeing more owners are taking the opportunity to plow their money into fixing up their existing home as opposed to cashing out and moving on.
For residents with busy lifestyles, or those that require low maintenance ownership, or some needing affordable housing options, the modern condominium or townhouse has become a much more popular form of property ownership in the past several years. 
Buds and blossoms are bursting forth here in Portland as we enter 70-degree spring days. 
If this month’s issue of 
