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Real Estate Market Update

Residential Highlights
Portland metro area market activity continued to grow over last month, but fell short of reaching March 2008 levels.

Comparing March 2009 with the same month in 2008, closed sales dropped 30%. Pending sales also fell 15.5%. New listings decreased 28.5%.

On the other hand, when comparing March 2009 with February 2009, closed sales grew 38.2% (1,184 v. 857) and pending sales were up 28.3% (1,637 v. 1,276). New listings grew 6.2% (3,685 v. 3,471).

Pending sales typically rise from February to March, but this year it increased at a steeper rate (28.3% in 2009 - vs. 5.5% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2007).

Inventory also dropped to 12 months, its lowest point since October 2008. Active residential listings in March numbered 14,158 – down slightly from 14,188 in February. This is notable, as active listings have typically grown over that same time
frame (7% in 2008 and 6.6% in 2007).

Sale Prices
The average sale price for March 2009 was down 11.8% compared to March 2008, while the median sale price dropped 14%.

Month-to-month, the average sale price and median sale price are both down when compared with February levels; the average sale price decreased a slight 0.5% ($297,000 v. $298,500) and the median sale price was down 4.9% ($246,400 v. $259,000).

Portland Real Estate Market Update

December Residential Highlights
The year ended quietly as sales activity in the Portland metro continued to slow. However, the level of inventory dropped after reaching a record high in November.

The number of closed sales (987) hit its lowest point since February 1992 (905). Pending transactions (810) were at a record low since RMLS™ began reporting in 1992, the previous record was 845 in December 1994.

Comparing December 2008 with December 2007, closed sales fell 34% and pending sales dropped 34.2%. New listings also decreased 17.4%.

At the month’s rate of sales, the 13,882 active residential listings would last 14.1 months if no new listings were to enter the market. That is a slight decrease from last month’s record high of 15 months.

2008 Summary
Comparing market activity in 2008 with 2007, new listings decreased 8.7%. Pending sales dropped 30.8% and closed sales fell 32.1%.

At $6.3 billion this year, total sales volume dropped 35% from 2007’s $9.7 billion.

Fourth Quarter Summary
Comparing the fourth quarter of 2008 with that of 2007, new listings fell 20.3% (8,326 v. 10,450*). Closed sales, on the other hand, dropped 32.1% (3,598 v. 5,298) and pending sales fell 35.8% (3,061 v. 4,766).

Please call me if you have any questions about the real estate activity in your neighborhood. You can find more information on my website at www.audreybonnet.com

Source: RMLS Market Action