-
re:PDX is presented by Claire Widmark, broker affiliated with M Realty LLC in Portland, Oregon.
Phone: 971-275-3691
Get Updates Automatically
Subscribe in a reader
Portland Real Estate Market Activity – March 2011
Early spring brought a little mixed news to interested home buyers and sellers reviewing March real estate statistics.
Sales volume is up over 1,600 units for the first time since June 2010. The average and median sale prices of a Portland metropolitan home perked up from their February low, gaining 6.8% and 0.6% respectively. The average price for a home in the Portland area cost around $260,000. The median price is down 10% from a year ago at $215,000.
The month also saw 677 closed transactions labeled as either short sales or bank-owned (foreclosed) homes — 42% of the total transactions.
April should prove to be an active sales month as March yielded over 2,000 pending sales. Active inventory is very low, at just 11,458 available units. In fact, you would have to go back to the bubble days of April 2007 (when houses sold themselves) to find such a low inventory. The list of today’s active properties would sell through in 7 months at the current pace of sales.
If 2011 is the year you are going to take the real estate plunge, visit my interactive map of all Portland homes for sale, where you can view active properties by neighborhood. If you have questions about the market or about a specific home, please contact me.
Market Summary
| March 2011 | Last Month - February 2011 |
Last Year - March 2010 |
|
| Median Sale Price | $215,000 | $213,700 | $238,900 |
| Average Sale Price | $261,100 | $244,500 | $280,300 |
| Closed Sales | 1,615 | 1,074 | 1,799 |
| Pending Sales | 2,012 | 1,592 | 2,402 |
| New Listings | 3,056 | 2,883 | 4,987 |
| Active Listings | 11,458 | 11,746 | 14,042 |
| Distress Sales | 42% | 46% | |
| Total Market Time * | 161 days | 177 days | 142 |
| Inventory (in months) | 7.1 | 10.9 | 7.8 |
Below is activity by market area. Please note that median and average sale prices are year-to-date. 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 | $386,500 | $349,500 | -11.0% | 232 |
| West Portland & Downtown | $378,400 | $322,000 | -2.7% | 164 |
| NW Washington County | $325,200 | $308,900 | -2.5% | 150 |
| Tigard / Tualatin / Sherwood / Wilsonville | $278,700 | $253,900 | -5.5% | 188 |
| Northeast Portland | $261,900 | $217,000 | -0.4% | 130 |
| Milwaukie / Clackamas | $239,400 | $222,300 | -8.8% | 113 |
| Oregon City / Canby | $211,800 | $200,000 | -10.7% | 182 |
| Gresham / Troutdale | $207,000 | $174,900 | -5.0% | 147 |
| Southeast Portland | $205,400 | $170,000 | -2.6% | 120 |
| North Portland | $203,100 | $190,000 | -5.3% | 148 |
| Beaverton / Aloha | $201,800 | $182,000 | -3.3% | 147 |
| Hillsboro / Forest Grove | $199,500 | $181,700 | -11.1% | 156 |
| Yamhill County | $177,300 | $165,000 | -2.3% | 180 |
| Columbia County | $164,300 | $155,000 | -9.7% | 174 |
Market data courtesy of RMLS, March 2011.
Comments
2 Responses to “Portland Real Estate Market Activity – March 2011”
Leave a Reply
Great post, Ron. It looks like inventory is lower in your area than last year. Hope that will create a little more urgency. Thanks for sharing.
Meredith
Certainly the lower inventory has created an urgency around the choice properties that do come on the market that are priced well. It is not uncommon to see homes in the close-in neighborhoods get multiple offers within a few days of listing. And buyers are complaining that what little is available has become stale.