January 2010 Real Estate Report: What's Happening?

A note about my statistics:

They are a comparison of December 2008 - December 2009 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:

As you can see, this holiday season was much nicer to real estate than last holiday season. Inventory is down, and closed and pending sales are up over the same time last year which is, in any market, usually a slow time of year.

Yearly change from December 08 to December 09:

For Sale: 3535 in December 08, 2981 in December 09. Inventory is DOWN 15.7%

Sold homes: 347 sold in December 08, 442 sold in December 09. Sales have risen 27.4%.

Pending sales: 248 pending for sale in December 08, 387 pending for sale in December 09. Pending sales are UP 56%.

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 December 2009 we are basically back where we started at the beginning of the year at $144/square foot.

Yearly change from December 08 to December 09:

Average price per square foot in December 08 was $151. In December 09 it is $144. This figure has dropped 4.5%.

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, 67 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 December 2009, sellers were getting, on average, 97% of their asking price. Downward pressure on prices has eased in 2009.

Yearly change from December 08 to December 09:

Average time it takes to sell a home in December 08 was 68 days. In December 09, it is 67 days. A decrease of time on market of 1.5%.

The percentage of listing price that was paid was 96% in December 08 and is 97% in December 09.

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 December 2009, this figure was $294,000. First time homebuyers have been taking great advantage of affordable prices and the tax credit.

Yearly change from December 08 to December 09:

The average price of a home listed in December 08 was $391,000. In December 09, $369,000. This figure has decreased by 5.6%.

The average price of a home sold in December 08 was $295,000. In December 09 it was $294,000 This figure has decreased by 0.3%.

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 December 2009, this figure was 6.7 months. Portland is currently, on average, a buyer's market.

This does NOT mean that it will take, on average, 6.7 months for your home to sell. That number was 67 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 6.7 months for all available homes to sell before there would be nothing left.

Yearly change from December 08 to December 09:

The months of inventory in December 08 was 10.2 months. In December 09, it is 6.7 months. This figure has decreased by 34.3%. 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