Home sales in the Portland Area continues to show improvement. Home sales have increased 4% this past year, while the number of homes for sale has decreased by more than 25%! Read my summary below to see how this may benefit you.

Click Here to view some Portland Real Estate Statistics produced by our Multiple Listing Service.

In Summary:

The number of Portland Area homes Sold in 2011 increased 4% from the year earlier, and has surpassed 2008 and 2009 with a similar margin. This is good news especially considering the years earlier had included tax credit incentives that substantially bumped sales activity. The average cost of a home in Portland is currently $263,300 – equivalent to the average price of a Portland home in 2004-05.

There are currently 8,612 Portland Area homes up for Sale. This is a substantial decrease from a peak of over 18,200 homes for sale in the summer of 2008. Portland Home Values will likely increase if this inventory reduces further in 2012.

Homes that are located well and priced to attract a buyer are selling quickly and sometimes with multiple offers.

2012 Home Sales: Positives on Many Fronts
by Robert Freedman, January 3, 2012.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its latest pending home sales index figure last week and for the second month in a row the index is up. But more than that, the index has broken 100. This is significant because the only time since the housing boom collapsed that the index has broken 100 is when the home owner tax credit was in effect. The fact that the index has returned to that level a year since the credit has been in effect means the housing market is strengthening completely on its own, without any stimulus.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun is upbeat about 2012 because in a number of areas indicators are pointing upward. Not only are home sales up but housing starts are up and home prices are stabilizing in many markets and heading up in some. In areas where they’re still down, the declines aren’t that great. More fundamentally, broader U.S. economic signs are looking positive, including the all-important jobs picture. About 100,000 job are being created a month, and that could rise to 150,000—still not a quick enough pace to get us back to where we were before the downturn but the headwinds are in the right direction.

Homes are affordable and there are great investor opportunities. First-time buyers can find quality homes priced around $200,000. Higher-end homes are affordable to middle-income wage earners. And, Mortgage Interest Rates are still at 4%!

Do you know someone looking to buy or sell a home? Please have them call me.

Darin Provost
503-784-7626