May Market Update for Portland

market-action-bannerMarket Action May 2009 (Read full report) Imagine our housing market as a big supermarket. If you had walked into that supermarket in January shopping for a house with all the other buyers, at the rate of sales in January it would have taken 19 months to clear the shelves of all the inventory. You had an awful lot to choose from. May 2009 has us down to 10.2 months of inventory- less choice, but still slightly more than May 2008 where there were 9.2 months. This is good news. Less inventory is an indication that the market is stabilizing. The long held belief is the level field between buyers and sellers is at six months of inventory.

Looking at days on market (DOM) another important indicator we are currently at an average of 151 days. Last year we had an average of 79. Keep in mind that average is a range so while NW Washington County suffers with 190 DOM, NE Portland is at 96. Keep in mind that the longer DOM is an indication of several market forces: there are many short sales on the market, and those take months to conclude. There are quite a few properties that would sell if priced correctly when first listed. These homes often have sellers that are hopeful that market forces do not apply to their particular home. These homes sell after several price reductions. Then of course, there are fewer buyers in the market. They do not heed William Buffets advice of "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." It may not be the bottom in our housing market but it's pretty darn close. We are still a ways from the market ascending.

Sales at my Windermere office were the best of the year, and a recent report shows Windermere leading the sales in Multnomah Country. Top Brokers Report.Top Brokers Report