Portland Real Estate Market Activity - September 2007

Perhaps due to fewer financing options or perhaps due to general unease in the housing market, home buyers in the Portland metro market are sitting on their wallets, creating an inventory spike now reaching over 8 and a half months’ supply.

Compared to 2006, approximately 2,500 fewer homes have been sold in the metro area year-to-date, but over 4,300 more listings were marketed. With this disparity, plus lingering, unsold inventory, the market now has over 16,000 properties listed. This isn’t too far from where we were last year at this time, but with the pace of sales slowing, it is now taking 60 days on average for properties to sell (vs. 41 days last year).

RMLS (Portland’s multiple listing service) reports that the average sale price increased 6.9% to $337,700 and the median up 7.5% to $285,000. Note these figures are generated by rolling up 12 months results and comparing them to the previous 12 months.

The inventory number is the highest since 2001 and is bound to put downward pressure on pricing. Full-price offers are rare now, unless the property is exceptional or priced correctly at the outset. With the typical slow season approaching, I wonder if homeowners will let listings expire and wait for fairer conditions.

Tomorrow, I will post the average and median sale prices year-to-date for each market area, as well as 12-month appreciation figures.

Source: RMLS, September 2007 results.

Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, real estate, home, prices, appreciation, sales, activity

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Add comment October 17th, 2007