Overall, prices are still fluctuating. The average sale price for the metro area was $252,000, down from $261,00 in March 2011. Some market areas, however, are starting to show some year-over-year appreciation.

Listings continue to be exceedingly scarce, however, with just 8,391 properties or 5 months’ inventory available at the end of March. By comparison, March 2011 had 11,458 units on the market. Nearly 2,300 properties received acceptable offers and were noted as sale pending in March.

Here are the figures for March:

Market Summary

Below is activity by market area. 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

In a related story, the national government is looking at changes to the loan modification process. Story here.

In short, distress properties made up 24% of new residential listings and almost 30% of actual sales in 2010. While those numbers are small compared to the smoking crater markets like Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Detroit, distress sale pricing impedes the value of all non-distress homes and is a major contributor to the continued pricing slump in the area.

Additional facts from RMLS:

• Short Sales were 11.8% of new listings, and 8.9% of sales.
• Bank Owned properties were 12.3% of new listings, and 20.4% of sales.

While pursuing short sales can yield fruit, you have a much higher likelihood of closing on a bank-owned foreclosure property (aka REO, or real-estate owned). You can search for those opportunities on my Foreclosures search page.

In short, it noted the typical stereotypical responses — outdoor life, food, music, beer, biking — you know, lifestyle stuff.

For jobs? Not so much.

From the NPR transcript:

Oregon economist Christian Kaylor says he can think of only one explanation for the migration into Portland: the quality of life.

Kaylor says wages there are sometimes 20 percent lower than in Seattle or San Francisco. But people keep coming. In fact, Portland’s appeal is part of why the city’s unemployment rate tends to be about a point higher than the national average.

“In recessions, Portland tends to see population growth, even as we lose jobs,” Kaylor says. “So one of the reasons we have that higher unemployment rate is because people do continue to move here even as jobs disappear.”

Foodcarts, rock bands, and brewpubs aside, perhaps these recent additions will someday find reasonable employment options and eventually fuel the housing market in years to come. I have worked with several that fit this mold, and I hope their careers can continue to support both their lifestyle and housing choices.

Full story and audio at NPR.

And there’s more:

Sigh.

Listen at the audio link or read the article at NPR.org.

The article specifically calls out Bend:

The area around Bend area, in central Oregon’s high desert by the Cascade Mountains, has the second-highest four-year growth forecast, 33.6 percent, after Bremerton-Silverdale, Wash. Bend draws home buyers and visitors with its wealth of outdoor recreational opportunities, but its prices have dropped about 40 percent since hitting a peak in late 2006. Fiserv and Moody’s Economy.com now expect a rapid recovery starting next year. Greg Broderick, a real estate broker in Bend, says prices have overcorrected and buyers are seeing good value in the market. Homes priced the low hundred-thousand-dollar range “are being snapped up at a furious pace,” he says. Still, the area must deal with a higher-than-average unemployment rate, which the BLS says was 13.4 percent in June.

Yep, that jobs thing is kind of a big deal. You can’t eat lifestyle.

Full article over at Yahoo real estate.

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.

Read more at the NY Times.

Photo courtesy of Corvair Owner, used under Creative Commons license.

I had not heard locally of a backlog, but I suppose homes that are short sales that are still awaiting lender approval could be affected.

More info at CNBC.

From the Making Home Affordable Program:

A homeownership preservation workshop, sponsored by the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program, HOPE NOW Alliance and NeighborWorks® America, will be held in Portland for all homeowners who may be at risk of foreclosure. The workshop is free, open to the public, and provides a chance for homeowners to meet face-to-face with their mortgage company and a HUD-approved counseling agency to work on a solution to help them stay in their home.

WHO: Portland homeowners who are in default on their mortgage or may be at risk of foreclosure
WHAT: Free Homeownership Preservation Workshop
WHEN: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 1:00 pm -7:30 pm
WHERE: Doubletree Hotel Portland, 1000 NE Multnomah Street, Portland, OR 97232

The Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program was created to help millions of homeowners refinance or modify their mortgage payments to a level that is more affordable.

More information at www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov and a link to the flyer (in Spanish, too).