The Portland Metro Real Estate Market is still in recovery and many wonder how things looked back in 2011 compared to previous years. There is considerable good news. We’ve seen a higher percentage of pending and closed sales year over year along with a lower total time on market for homes on the market. Total listings are also on the decline showing that the influx of short sales and foreclosures are slowing. Sales price are still slightly lower however the 2nd half of a year saw them level out and in some areas even increase.
Comparing activity from 2010 with that of 2011, closed sales rose 4% and pending sales rose 6%. New listings fell 25.4%.
Total sales volume for 2011 was about $5.2 billion, down from $5.3 billion in 2010, and $5.5 billion in 2009.
Portland Metro Inventory is 5.3 months. This is the lowest inventory level since June of 2007 (5.0 months). Inventory is the ratio of the number of closed listings for a month divided by the number of active listings. There are fewer closed sales and fewer active listings than there were in 2007 but what it shows is that buyers have fewer homes to look at and compete for.
Sale Prices
The average sale price for December 2011 was down 6.2% compared to December 2010, while the median declined 5.8%. Compared to November 2011, the average price rose 0.5% ($259,400 v. $260,800) and the median fell 3.7% ($225,000 v. $216,600). For the year, the average sale price dropped 6.7% compared to 2010. The median price fell 7.9%.
