February 2010 Real Estate Report: What's Happening?

A note about my statistics:

They are a comparison of January 2009 - January 2010 for all of
Multnomah County and are taken directly from the RMLS. What follows is
my own analysis of these statistics. For our purposes, I thought it
best to analyze Multnomah County as a whole. Each neighborhood,
however, is a little micro-universe and has its own market. Changing
the parameters of the zip codes, price variables, or time periods can
lead to very different results. This analysis is of all homes sold in
all price ranges in Multnomah County. If you have any questions about
specific zip codes, or any questions about the market in general,
please reply to this forum with those questions or feel free to contact
me at: http://www.propertiesofportland.com.

Since Portland is a neighborhood city, you can now search by "Irvington, Alberta, etc.". You can check it out by clicking here.

On to the report
Here is a chart of all homes for sale, pending for sale, and sold in Portland, Oregon for the last 15 months:

After a dip in closed sales from the holiday season, pending sales are way up.  In January 2010, there were 324 closed sales, 537 pending, and 3059 on the market.

Yearly change from January 09 to January 10:

For Sale: 3393 in January 09, 3095 in January 10. Inventory is DOWN 9.8%

Sold homes: 261sold in January 09, 324 sold in January 10. Sales are UP 24.1%.

Pending sales: 381 pending for sale in January 09, 537 pending for sale in January 10. Pending sales are UP 40.9%.

Chart for average price per square footage:

Price per sq footage has been mostly holding steady for all of 2009
with a very slight decrease. In January 2010, the average price per square foot in Portland is $138.

Yearly change from January 09 to January 10:

Average price per square foot in January 09 was $145. In January 10 it is $138. This figure has dropped 5.1%.

Days on market and sold/list price %:

This chart is showing us two things. First, how many days on the market
that a home is spending, on average, before being sold. In all of
Multnomah County, in all price ranges, a home is taking, on average, 80 days to sell.

The other thing that this chart shows is what percentage of listing
price the home, on average, is selling at. This is a great indicator of
pressure on prices. In January 2010, sellers were getting, on average,
97% of their asking price.

Yearly change from January 09 to January 10:

Average time it takes to sell a home in January 09 was 81 days. In
January 10, it is 80 days. A decrease of time on market of 1.2%.

The percentage of listing price that was paid was 96% in January 09 and is 97% in January 10.

Average price for sale vs. average price of sold:

The largest segment of home sales have been in the price range under
$400,000. You can see this reflected in the average price of a home
that has sold. In January 2010, this figure was $294,000. First time
homebuyers have been taking great advantage of affordable prices and
the tax credit.

Yearly change from January 09 to January 10:

The average price of a home listed in January 09 was $379,000. In January 10, $357,000. This figure has decreased by 5.8%.

The average price of a home sold in January 09 was $298,000. In January 10 it was $294,000 This figure has decreased by 1.3%.

Months of inventory:

Months of inventory gives a timeline of how long it would take for all
of the current listings to sell. Anything above 4 months is considered
a buyers market. In January 2010, this figure was 9.4 months. Portland
is currently, on average, a buyer's market.

This does NOT mean that it will take, on average, 9.4 months for your
home to sell. That number was 80 days, remember? It means that, if not
a single listing were to come on the market in Multnomah County from
this moment, it would take 9.4 months for all available homes to sell
before there would be nothing left.

Yearly change from January 09 to January 10:

The months of inventory in January 09 was 13 months. In January 10,
it is 9.4 months. This figure has decreased by 27.7%. This is a great
indicator of the state of the market. You can see how much things have
improved from last year at this time.

As I have said before, none of this information matters if you have a
particular neighborhood in mind since Portland neighborhoods are their
own micro-markets. If you have one in mind to buy or are selling your
home, please request a report for that neighborhood and I am happy to
post it on this blog or send it to you.

Hey people, I want to know what you think of these reports. Too many
stats? Just right? Something missing? Let me know so I can make these
more useful for you. What are your thoughts about real estate right
now? What do you think of the information in this report? Post to this
blog so we can discuss.

Visit my website where you can contact me and search all Portland Metro Area listings from the RMLS: http://www.propertiesofportland.com