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

From a high of 2,050 closed transactions in May, the market has cooled to around 1,400 closings during what would normally be the peak home buying and selling season (the 10-year July average is 2,400 closed sales). To give it more perspective, 1,400 sales is more in line with what you would expect for a January or February of an average year. July’s pending sale figure of 1,627 signals a low closed sales month in August. The slower sales pace has raised the available inventory level to 15,271 homes on the market — or 10.8 months’ supply. The Portland area has not had 15,000+ listings on the market since November 2008.

Despite the soft volume, prices have remained steady, even rising. Compared to June, the average and median sale prices were up 2.5%. In the Portland metro area, the median sale price was $246,000 and the average equaled $297,000. These levels were -1.6% and +2.9% respectively over July 2009 results, and may be residual echoes of the tax-credit frenzy of April and June 2010.

Below are summaries of the Portland housing market, including year-to-date figures for the metro areas.

Market Summary

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

Market data courtesy of RMLS, July 2010.

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.

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

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

Market data courtesy of RMLS, June 2010.

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.

As expected, closed sales in May were very strong, at over 2,000 transactions closed, but pending sales in the first post-tax credit month were just 1/2 of April’s performance.

Relatively low listing activity is keeping inventory down in the 7 months of availability. It’s taking 123 days on average to put a home under contract–a month quicker in North and Northeast Portland, however.

Will Portland’s housing market endure another season of lower volume, and therefore, lower prices? Is a double-dip inevitable? Or are things stabilizing?

A month or two of summertime activity (without federal incentives) will tell us much.

Market Summary

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

Market data courtesy of RMLS, May 2010.

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.

As their agent, I was sorta obligated to go along with the deal. I mean, who would turn down free publicity, right?

Well, the episode finally airs this Thursday, May 27 on HGTV. Check your local cable provider for the time, but you’re looking for the episode titled, “Living the Rock ‘n Roll Lifestyle“. (My client, Zaven, is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and frontman for the band, Abort! Abort! The music thing is kinda key to the episode.

Without giving anything away, the house hunt did not go as planned. Hilarity ensured and it was all caught on film. Nine months later, I’m petrified at what might end up on screen, but it’s too late for that now.

I have not seen any of the footage, and have no idea how it all turned out. It must not be too bad because it is just the 2nd or 3rd episode of the new season. The production is formulaic, but less contrived than you think. We were encouraged, even implored, to share our true thoughts out loud.

We met with the crew at least a half-dozen times: the house hunt, a follow-up showing, the contract writing, the contract response, the home inspection, a meeting or two, etc. Despite working with the relaxed video, audio, and production staff, it was still a grind. Each filming stretched our visits to 3 or 4 times longer than normal, and there were moments when I felt I had to oversimplify things for the camera. Nevertheless, I’ve been on the local news a few times, and this was a much more natural and relaxed process for me.

The transaction got a little complicated at the end due to the recent restrictive lending environment, but it all worked out. Working with Zaven and his wife Amber was the best part of the whole thing, and I was delighted that we found a really cool place for them along the Williams corridor in the Boise neighborhood.

Here’s to hoping that post-production takes off a few pounds, puts a little hair back on the dome, and mostly that I didn’t say anything horrifically unprofessional.

Sale prices bounced up a tick from last month, but are still 3 to 4% down from a year ago. The average home in the Portland metro area sold for $282,100 and the median value is now at $240,000.

On average, it’s taking at least 4 months for a new listing to eventually sell. April’s absorption rate of sales vs. available listings is now down to 7.3 months of supply, however, it’s unlikely that that buyers will continue their torrid purchasing pace with the tax credit now expired.

The closed sale numbers should be strong through May and June, but we’ll keep an eye on the pending sale numbers as the canary in the coal mine that will determine if the buying binge continues.

Market Summary

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

Market data courtesy of RMLS, April 2010.

First off, 1,800 homes closed escrow in March. That’s ok, but not historically all that strong for March.

However, 2,400+ homes went sale pending in the month. That’s the highest number of homes under contract going back 31 months…back to the peak days of the real estate frenzy in summer of 2007. Astounding. (And it means April and May closings will be strong.)

Is this the beginning of a rebound or just a paroxysmal response to the expiring tax credit? I suspect it is the latter and as we settle into the peak real estate season, the subsidized home-buying process will wane and the true market will emerge. April’s numbers should be out around the 15th.

Market Summary

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

Market data courtesy of RMLS, March 2010.