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re:PDX is presented by Claire Widmark, broker affiliated with M Realty LLC in Portland, Oregon.
Phone: 971-275-3691
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Portland Real Estate Market Activity – June 2010 results
For a second month in a row, the Portland housing market shows that it is clearly returning to its pre-tax incentive pace. This means low sales volumes when compared to historical averages in what would normally be the peak home-buying and selling season. It’s as if everyone moved their calendar up by a couple months.
March and April saw pending sales levels rise to 2,400 and 3,000 homes respectively. This translated into approximately 2,000 homes per month closing from April through June–just in time for the (recently extended) federal tax incentive deadline. By contrast, May and June experienced just ~1,500 and ~1,600 pending sales each, signaling a substandard summer for Portland home sales. For comparison’s sake, Portland’s 10-year average for this time of year is around 2,600 closings per month.
Pricing has remained stable, with the average bouncing around and the median stuck at -4% compared to 12 months ago for the 3rd month in a row. The average sale price in June was $289,000, the highest since September 2009. The median came in at $240,000, also equivalent to the fall of 2009.
The average time on market is 4 months and inventory levels are stable with 14,750 homes actively being marketed. At the current pace of sales, the existing inventory would take 7.3 months to absorb.
Market Summary
| June 2010 | May 2010 | Last Year June 2009 |
|
| Median Sale Price | $240,000 | $239,000 | $250,000 |
| Average Sale Price | $289,800 | $278,500 | $288,600 |
| Closed Sales | 2,012 | 2,050 | 1,988 |
| Pending Sales | 1,618 | 1,493 | 2,170 |
| New Listings | 4,257 | 3,482 | 3,907 |
| Active Listings | 14,752 | 14,372 | 14,503 |
| Total Market Time * | 121 days | 123 days | 147 days |
| Inventory (in months) | 7.3 | 7.0 |
8.2 |
Below is activity by market area. Please note that the median and average sale prices are year-to-date), and the appreciation numbers are a 12-month average compared to the previous 12-month average. Total market time is the number of days between the date it went on the market and when it received an acceptable offer.
Market Report by Area
| Area | YTD Avg. Sale Price |
YTD Median Sale Price |
12-Mo. Change | Total Mkt Time* |
| Lake Oswego / West Linn | $442,000 | $380,000 | -5.6% | 150 |
| West Portland & Downtown | $401,700 | $335,000 | -10.2% | 129 |
| NW Washington County | $362,800 | $335,000 | -7.5% | 123 |
| Tigard / Tualatin / Sherwood / Wilsonville | $303,800 | $277,000 | -7.9% | 137 |
| Northeast Portland | $282,700 | $245,000 | -7.3% | 87 |
| Milwaukie / Clackamas | $261,200 | $243,000 | -7.6% | 126 |
| Oregon City / Canby | $255,700 | $228,800 | -10.0% | 134 |
| Beaverton / Aloha | $240,800 | $219,900 | -7.5% | 109 |
| Southeast Portland | $237,200 | $210,000 | -8.5% | 93 |
| Hillsboro / Forest Grove | $233,200 | $211,000 | -10.1% | 140 |
| North Portland | $232,900 | $227,000 | -4.9% | 74 |
| Yamhill County | $216,700 | $192,500 | -11.1% | 146 |
| Gresham / Troutdale | $216,500 | $205,000 | -8.8% | 119 |
| Columbia County | $186,100 | $184,000 | -10.3% | 150 |
Market data courtesy of RMLS, June 2010.
Wealthy Owners Defaulting at Higher Rate Than Middle Class
The new buzz phrase in distressed real estate is “strategic default”, or purposely walking away from an upside down mortgage. Apparently, wealthy homeowners are handing the keys back to the bank at a higher rate than their middle-class counterparts.
The NY Times reports that homeowners with mortgages in excess of $1 million are defaulting at a 1 out of 7 pace.
From the NY Times article:
More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are seriously delinquent, according to data compiled for The New York Times by the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic.
By contrast, homeowners with less lavish housing are much more likely to keep writing checks to their lender. About one in 12 mortgages below the million-dollar mark is delinquent.
Though it is hard to prove, the CoreLogic data suggest that many of the well-to-do are purposely dumping their financially draining properties, just as they would any sour investment.
“The rich are different: they are more ruthless,” said Sam Khater, CoreLogic’s senior economist.
“They may be less susceptible to the shame and fear-mongering used by the government and the mortgage banking industry to keep underwater homeowners from acting in their financial best interest,” Mr. White said.
Photo courtesy of Corvair Owner, used under Creative Commons license.
