Plenty of Room for Millionaires
A re:PDX reader recently asked about how the Portland job environment could support the number of million dollar listings he’s been watching on the market. A great question and one I’ve wondered about, too.
For all of it’s positive reviews, Portland doesn’t exactly top the list of locales for high-paying jobs with Fortune 500 industrial, manufacturing, or headquarters companies. Perhaps there is a steady stream of Intel, Nike, and other corporate executives moving inbound. Perhaps…
My off-the-cuff reply, based almost purely on anecdotal evidence, was that the bulk of migrating buyers have scads of equity made during the recent housing run-up. Along with their yearning for a lifestyle change, they’re bringing along big downpayments. Many that I have come across are from California, which causes me some concern given the state of their housing market.
Are there enough non-Californian candidates to absorb the balance of 633 Portland-metro properties priced at $1 million or more?
That’s right. As of October 28, 633 properties topped the $1 million price level–a whopping $1.1 billion in real property. The last time I peeked, in January 2006, only 275 properties scaled the $1M tag. And that doesn’t include the 215 listings priced from $900K to $1M, or the 302 listings priced from $800K to $900K.
While not particularly useful statistics, the ‘average’ home priced over a million had 4,482 sq. ft, 4 bedrooms, and just over three bedrooms. Average list price for the group: $1,772,000. West Portland (including the city center) and Lake Oswego/West Linn led the area for highest number of $1M+ homes, together with nearly 60% of the total properties in the survey.
West Portland (downtown) includes 75 condos in the count, too. Outlying suburbs like Newberg, NW Washington County, Oregon City/Canby, etc. will typically yield acreage, barns, farmland, horses, etc.
Here’s a breakdown of active listings, sorted by the market areas’ number of properties meeting the $1M+ price level:
| Area | Total Properties | Avg. Sq. Ft. | Avg. List Price |
| West Portland | 194 | 3,895 | $1,626,000 |
| Lake Oswego / West Linn | 167 | 4,770 | $1,845,000 |
| Oregon City / Canby | 54 | 4,634 | $1,761,000 |
| Tigard / Tualatin / Sherwood / Wilsonville | 49 | 5,183 | $2,227,000 |
| Milwaukie / Clackamas | 45 | 4,640 | $1,526,000 |
| Yamhill County | 32 | 4,453 | $2,007,000 |
| Gresham / Troutdale | 24 | 4,739 | $1,621,000 |
| NW Washington County | 20 | 4,924 | $1,704,000 |
| Hillsboro / Forest Grove | 19 | 4,519 | $1,520,000 |
| Southeast Portland | 12 | 4,705 | $1,301,000 |
| Beaverton / Aloha | 7 | 5,293 | $1,674,000 |
| Northeast Portland | 6 | 4,507 | $1,324,000 |
| North Portland | 4 | 2,702 | $1,213,000 |
The most expensive listing currently on the market is a 20-acre, 9,538 sq. ft. Tuscan-style spread in Newberg/Sherwood for just under $10 million. It features 4 bedrooms(!), 5 and 2-half baths, 5 fireplaces, and an 8-stall horse barn.
And just under $8 million will get you a former Portland TrailBlazer player’s home with almost 7 acres, 14,000 sq. ft., 8 bedroms, 8+ bathrooms, and 366 feet of Willamette River frontage in West Linn.
Anyway, for those of you looking to drop $800,000 to $10,000,000 on a new home, you’ve got over 1,100 to look through. I can be available, even on short notice to drive you through some samples 
Data from RMLS, October 28, 2007. Photo of Pittock Mansion by MissMarnie, used under Creative Commons license. The Pittock is not for sale.
Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, real estate, million, dollar, listings, homes, houses
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6 comments October 29th, 2007
