As you can see from the chart below, we are still below the national average for the months of inventory available in our marketplace.  However, you can also see that we are still hovering at a very high-point in the number of months of inventory in the market for sale (i.e. how many months it would take for all the houses to sell).  We can’t seem to shake the inventory down to a lower point where it is a good market for both buyers and sellers – i.e. around 5-6 months of inventory for sale.

Current Inventory of Houses for Sale from January 2004-June 2008

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
January	6.1	3.4	3.2	6.2	12.8
February	4.8	3.0	2.7	5.2	10.4
March	3.4	1.8	2.0	3.8	9.1
April	3.0	1.8	2.4	4.4	10.3
May	2.8	1.6	2.3	4.5	9.2
June	2.4	1.5	2.6	5.0	9.5
July	2.5	1.7	3.5	5.7
August	2.7	1.6	3.6	6.2
September	2.8	1.9	4.5	8.6
October	2.7	2.2	4.6	8.4
November	2.9	2.2	5.1	8.3
December	2.4	2.1	4.5	8.5

June Residential Highlights

June sales activity was mixed when compared to that of May 2008. On the other hand, activity continues to follow a downward trend compared with 2007.

From May to June, there was a 0.8% increase in closed sales (1,877 v. 1,863) – the second straight month of increasing sales. New listings also grew a slight 0.6% (5,213 v. 5,182). Pending sales, however, dropped 6% (1,996 v. 2,124) .

On the other hand, comparing June 2008 with June 2007, closed sales dropped 31.3% and pending sales decreased 30%. New listings were also down 16.3%. See table below.

At the month’s rate of sales, the 17,788 active residential listings would last approximately 9.5 months, up slightly from 9.2 in May.

Residential Market Highlights

	New Listings	Pending Sales	Closed Sales	Average Sales Price	Median Sales Price	Days on the Mkt
Year-to-Date 2008	31,205	11,072	9,844	$337,700	$282,500	79
June 2008	5,213	1,996	1,877	$348,800	$289,000	76
Year to-Date 2007	31,429	16,649	15,001	$340,400	$288,900	59
June 2007	6,231	2,852	2,731	$352,400	$295,000	55

Second Quarter

A look at the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007 shows a 34.7% decrease in closed sales (5,461 v. 8,361) and 31% drop in pending sales (5,972 v. 8,652). New listings also fell 8.1% (15,973 v. 17,386).

Sale Prices

The average sale price for June 2008 was down 1% compared to June 2007, while the median sale price dropped 2%. See table above.

Month-to-month, the average sale price and median sale price are both up over May 2008 levels; the average sale price rose 4.1% ($348,800 v. $335,000) and the median sale price was up 0.5% ($289,000 vs. $287,500). 

Average sale price for condos in the Portland metro area for the month of June over the last five years:

CONDO STATS FOR 5 YEARS	Average  Sale  Price	% of Change from Prior Year
June 2008	$320,700	22
June 2007	$262,100	14
June 2006	$230,900	12
June 2005	$205,900	17
June 2004	$175,200	7

12-Month Sale Price % of Change for Metro Portland:

Average Sale Price % change: +2.9% ($342,800 vs. $333,100)

Median Sale Price % change: = +2.5% ($287,000 vs. $280,000)

(All Information from the Realtor’s Multiple Listing Service)

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

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