Portland's real estate market off to a good start in 2013

Sellers rejoice. Buyers be swift. We can speculate that rising prices will gradually lead to more inventory for three main reasons: (1) More new construction is on the horizon with the rising home prices. In fact, housing starts are at the highest level since mid-year 2008, (2) the talk of rising home prices will encourage many home owners to sell, and (3) When looking at seasonal patterns in real estate, Spring brings prospective buyers and sellers out of their winter hibernation. Let's hope more sellers are ready to move on from their existing home this spring as, although more homes are coming on the market, they are selling fast and stable buyer demand continues to apply pressure to the already short supply of available homes.

January Highlights 

The Portland real estate market got off to a good start in January 2013. There were 2,438 new listings, an 89.6% increase over December 2012 listings of 1,286, but 6.7% fewer than the 2,613 listings of January 2012.  

Although fewer than December’s 1,760 closed sales, the 1,344 closed sales in January 2013 are the most for the month of January since 2007, when there were 1,594 sales. There were 1,906 offers accepted, also the most in January since 2007 when there were 2,544 pending sales. Pending sales increased 37.7% over the previous month when there were 1,384.

Active inventory continues at historic lows, rising only fractionally to 6,366 homes on the market—a mere six more listings than December 2012. Unsold inventory remains low at 4.7 months.

Market time continues to shrink. At 114 days, January’s total market time has lowered by 16.3% from an average of 136 days on the market in January 2012.

Average and Median Sale Prices 

The average sale price in January was $287,700, and the median sale price was $248,000. Prices are rising over time. Comparing the average price of homes in the twelve months ending January 31st of this year ($277,000) with the average price of homes sold in the twelve months ending January 2012 ($262,900) shows an increase of 5.4%. In the same comparison, the median has increased 7.3% to $236,000 in the last twelve months from $219,900 in the preceding twelve months. 

Courtesy of RMLS Market Action Report

Steve Roesch | Principal Broker, Owner
PDX Home Group, LLC
o. 503.748.8387 | c. 503.318.6351 | f. 503.748.8307
Steve@PDXHomeGroup.com

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