Portland Real Estate Market Activity – August 2007

Therapy poster in PortlandHome sellers in the Portland metropolitan market will be stretching their patience muscles even more as 2007 winds down towards the typically slow 4th quarter.

August 2007 results show an increase in market time (days on market), now at an average of 56 days. By contrast, August 2006 rated 41 days, and August 2005 a mere 37 days. This market constipation has created the highest level of inventory since 2003. At the current rate of sales, if no new listings were added to the market, the active homes on market would take 6.2 months to clear. As of August 31, RMLS displayed nearly 16,000 homes for sale.

Although the 12-month rolling average shows an 8.1% increase in the median price, RMLS data also shows that the median house price in the metro area stayed flat from last month at $300,000. Average sale prices were $366,900. My review of prices showed virtually no movement in the year-to-date rollup from last month, but the North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland market areas did show some relatively strong price increases over the previous month. In the case of North and Northeast Portland, their time on market was substantially lower than average at 42 days.

The flattening of prices is a predictable result of increased inventory primarily due to fewer sales than in the previous year. While home sellers have been unwilling to cut prices, they will have no choice but to do so or take their property off the market in hopes for a better spring. This pricing pressure will show most in the homogeneous suburban areas where time on the market are well over the average (Tigard, Hillsboro, Oregon City, Sherwood, Clackamas, etc).

Note, I have seen some evidence of 1st-day multiple offers on homes that were priced aggressively, so there are motivated buyers on the hunt. Low interest rates (and perhaps some help from the 1/2-point interest rate cut by the Fed today) will spur some additional activity before the fall ends.

Tomorrow, I will post year-to-date average and median prices along with 12-month appreciation figures broken down by market area.

[tags] Portland, Oregon, real estate, market, activity, statistics, prices, listings, sales, homes, houses, residential [/tags]

Photo by Velma’s World, used under Creative Commons license.

September 18, 2007 · Filed Under Market Activity

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