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NEW CONSTRUCTION – Nationwide & West Coast
The National Association of Home Builders reports that in October, nationwide housing production fell 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 units in October as builders awaited word on whether an important home buyer incentive would be extended. Single-family housing starts declined 6.8 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 476,000 units, the slowest pace since May of this year with the West declining by 8.5 percent.
Permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, fell 4 percent overall in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000 units, due primarily to a double-digit drop-off on the multifamily side. While single-family permits held virtually flat at 451,000 units, multifamily permits were down nearly 18 percent to 101,000 units. Regionally, permit activity was mixed, with the West posting a 6.7 percent decline. There was also a recent story indicating that lumber prices have increased although housing construction is still down near World War II levels. 
The U.S. Census Bureau also released their construction spending data for October 2009, revealing that the real estate sector dropped 14.4% from October 2008. The residential real estate sector was up 4% which had speculators rallying but spending dropped a staggering 23% from October 2008.
New construction inventory has been falling due to slower than average but consistent salespace coupled with a lag in new spec homes coming on the market. Although sales are trending up, builders are still struggling to close sales. The Census Bureau reports that new U.S. home sales rose to an annual rate of 430,000 in October, up from a revised September rate of 405,000. That’s a 6.2 percent jump, but the increase isn’t statistically significant.
Another report indicates (released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development) that the median sale price of new homes was $212,200 in October with an estimated 229,000 units available at the end of that month, reflecting a 6.7 month inventory.
IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport gives these highlights:
- Inventories fell for the 30th straight month and hit their lowest level since May 1971. That signals that builders at some point will need to boost housing starts again.
- While the October jump wasn’t statistically significant, the trends show that new home sales are improving slowly.
- The tax credit didn’t drive any sales bump because the deals had to close by Nov. 30 and these won’t.
- Selling a new home has never been harder. The median time it takes to sell a new home rose to 13.5 months. The highest reading ever. Builders are still struggling, despite the pickup in sales and the tax credits. Calculated Risk has some nice charts. (See below.)
From Calculated Risk blog
NEW CONSTRUCTION – Oregon
According to a recent housing report from Norris Beggs & Simpson as reported by OregonLive, the unsold inventory of speculative new homes has fallen this year from 1,200 units in January to 679 in September. Washington County has 37 percent of unsold spec homes; Clark County is second with 26 percent, then Clackamas County with 22 percent and Multnomah County with 15 percent. Outlying suburban markets accounted for two-thirds of new spec inventory in the third quarter 2009. New construction sales are down 72% in the Portland area from the peak of the real estate cycle.
NEW CONSTRUCTION – Portland
My regular readers know I’ve been writing relentlessly about smaller houses. From everything I read, and there was an article in the Oregonian recently that mirrored everything I’ve been saying, I believe the public does want the smaller sq. ft. and that builders will hopefully start accommodating that segment of the market.
As I was writing this post I remembered something that happened after the mid-80s recession ended. We didn’t have any new houses to sell. There was no new construction anywhere in the marketplace for buyers to purchase. It took a long time before the builders put new construction inventory back into our market. Will that happen again this go around? I personally don’t think so, but that could happen. With inventory of new houses drying up, builders not building, little to no construction money available, we could be looking at zero new construction as in the mid-80s. I’ve also stated that I believe the large subdivisions are on the way out and that more and more builders, as has already been the case, will be building on in-fill lots or on a build-to-suit only basis for a buyer for some time until new construction gets back on its feet. Sounds like we’re going back to the 80s.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No 
Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland
Guest Author:
Bob Chiodo, CFP
Equity Home Mortgage, LLC
Just a quick note, FHA has once again postponed the condo re-approval changes until December 7, 2009. They mentioned that some of the changes won’t be as dramatic. That’s our good news for the day!
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
The Home Builders Association in Portland reported recently that sales dropped in August over July and overall sales for the first eight
months of the year were down 15 percent over the same time period in 2008. The higher-end markets tend to be lagging as well with Lake Oswego-West Linn being the “dog of the market right now”, said the group. The builder’s group also says we’ve bottomed out for homes at $350,000 or less, but the higher you go in the market, the worse the conditions are. For the upper price range, time will tell.
There is a lot of new homebuilding activity at the top of the hill in Oregon City: new excavation, framing and other positive signs of movement. As reported in one of my posts, builders are now keeping busy building on in-fill lots around the area. I also have heard rumors that METRO towards the end of the year is not planning on expanding the urban growth boundary which means builders will be scrambling for lots when the market improves and/or continuing to build on those in-fill lots.
The Homebuilders Association also says they have seen the inventory of lots decline. Existing (lot) sales are continuing at a good pace and there haven’t been many new lot listings come on the market for sale. Some lots are being tansferred back to banks from builders, and the amount of spec homes on the market has dropped noticeably from 1900 unsold spec homes in April of 2008 to 1,079 in mid September. The builders group says that it is a good sign and that the region is working its way through some of its existing inventory. Maybe it took this Great Recession for these big builders to finally figure it all out.
UPDATE ON LOCAL BUILDERS
Legend Homes: No more furnaces in the garage. Optional rain barrels and raised gardens. Solar panels, standard, on every roof. Legend Homes is upping the green ante with its new EarthSmart collection of homes in its Tigard community – Edgewater. The first Earth-Smart home models are under construction now and will be completed by the end of the year. They will have smaller footprints – 1,400 to 2,000 sq. ft. from $296,000 to $336,000.
Here’s a story about Roger Pollock (Buena Vista Custom Homes) building in Happy Valley from Oregon.live.com. I remember visiting Mr. Pollock’s house one year when it was on the Christmas Tour of Homes. The 19,000 sq. ft. house with its circular drive, on the water has all the resort amenities you can imagine. Now he says he will go smaller and cheaper.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
HUD’s most recent quarterly report was issued the other day. Here are the highlights about metro Portland, Oregon:
- During the 12 months ending June 2009, job losses totaled 55,400 in Oregon. Oregon accounted for one-half the 38,200 manufacturing jobs lost in the region, due mainly to layoffs at Daimler AG and Intel Corporation.
- Regionwide employment declines occurred in nearly every sector, with two-thirds of the job losses recorded in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Government, education and health services, and information were the only sectors to record employment gains, up 21,000, 20,300, and 900 jobs, respectively. For the 12 months ending June 2009, nonfarm employment averaged 1.7 million jobs in Oregon. The regional average unemployment rate increased to 7.5 percent during the 12 months ending June 2009 compared with a rate of 4.8 percent for the same period in 2008. The average unemployment rate, which increased in every state in the region, was 9.4 percent in Oregon.
- Oregon registered the greatest loss in construction jobs, down 14,800 jobs.
- Oregon sales market conditions also remained soft during the 12 months ending June 2009. According to data from the local multiple listing services, the number of new and existing single-family homes sold in the 11 largest markets in Oregon totaled 35,900, a 29-percent decline compared with the number sold during the previous 12 months. During the same period, the average sales price decreased by 13 percent to $271,900. In the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Oregon-Washington metropolitan area, the number of new and existing homes sold totaled 21,100, down 34 percent compared with the number sold during the 12 months ending June 2008, and the average price decreased 11 percent to $298,800.
- Oregon, permits totaled 5,900, a decline of 2,100 homes, or 18 percent, from a year ago.
- In Oregon, 3,400 multifamily units were permitted, 1,200 fewer than the number permitted during the 12 months ending June 2008.
- In the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metropolitan area, rental housing market conditions were balanced in the second quarter of 2009. According to Reis, Inc., the apartment vacancy rate was 5.8 percent, up from 5 percent in the second quarter of 2008. The average rent was essentially flat at $750 over the same period. Because of limited new apartment construction, rental markets in the Oregon metropolitan areas of Medford, Salem, and Eugene-Springfield remained balanced with apartment vacancy rates of 4, 5, and 5 percent respectively. A year ago, the vacancy rate was 4 percent in all three metropolitan areas. Between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, average asking rents in these three areas increased between 1 and 2 percent, to $590, $620, and $700, respectively.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Recently a vacant lot listing of mine sold. Inasmuch as it was in an unincorporated area with no fire protection close by, the County required the builder/owner to install fire sprinklers inside the house upon construction.
An article in one of our national Realtor® magazines reported that indoor fire sprinklers are going to be mandatory in new home construction starting 2011. A decision by the U.S. Fire Administration supporting the building code change, approved the International Residential Code 2009 which calls for indoor sprinkler systems in new construction. The Fire Administration, a division of FEMA, had been researching and testing the feasibilityof mandatory sprinkler installation and has now agreed to make it mandatory.
The International Residential Code 2009 covers both structural and nonstructural provisions with special significance, including new and innovative design ideas and technologies, modern materials and methods of construction, and current approaches to fire safety, life safety, and structural stability. There are many important changes in the 2009 International Building Code.
According to the Fire Administration, there are 3,000 deaths and 60,000 injuries a year due to fires in the U.S. How that new code will affect us in Oregon, time will only tell.
Sounds like we’ll be getting another addendum or disclosure to our ever increasing size of earnest money agreement packets and we can look forward to housing construction costs increasing.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
As many of my regular readers know, I’ve been on a personal crusade against builders constructing McMansions. I’ve written numerous posts about smaller, affordable
yet quality homes that are sorely lacking in our marketplace. My personal opinion is that the large homes will become obsolete, we’ll have a glut of inventory on the market once the baby boomers downsize and that younger buyers won’t want them. Couples are having children later and smaller families, boomers don’t want that sq. ft. or number of bedrooms, and due to the economy the move-up buyers are smaller in number. Further, people just can’t afford them nor will they want to after this recession.
Do builders not know that 77+ million baby boomers will need smaller, affordable houses let alone the first-time buyers? Since the 1980s I’ve been complaining about this and now comes this article in the Builder magazine urging builders to build smaller and affordable homes. Here is what builders need to know: build smaller, more affordable homes, even as the economy recovers, because that’s what people will be most likely buy.
Hammered by “heavy employment losses,” not to mention pay cuts and furloughs, “estimates of consumer incomes are running much lower” than previously projected, according to Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight.
“The new revised figures have taken some $200 billion out of labor compensation estimates—that’s almost 4 percent off consumer income,” Gault explained last week during a Web presentation on the likely recovery for the U.S. economy. “It leaves consumers in worse shape than thought in terms of spending.”
For that reason, smart builders will want to concentrate on lower-priced homes that these economically-battered buyers can actually afford. “Wages and incomes are extremely constrained,” Gault said about employment situation. Unemployment, for example, is expected to reach a peak of 10% next year. That’s because employment growth—i.e., companies adding or replacing jobs—tends to lag behind other economic indicators as wary firms remain hesitant about hiring people.
Building less pricey homes also should offer some protection against additional home value drops. “We are not convinced yet that home prices have completely bottomed out,” Gault said. “… We suspect there’s probably a little further [for home prices] to go on the downside because foreclosure rates are still very heavy.”
Alison Rice is senior editor, online, at BUILDER magazine.
In my recent “Boomers Impact Future of Housing” post I noted how important boomers would be to housing trends in the future. Now there’s an article that says boomers will be the ones to bring us out of this recession. It’s time builders started listening.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Last Sunday I watched the news on CBS. There was a report about Tumbleweed Homes. In fact, I had read an article in one of my many magazines a while ago about that company and have been meaning to research them.
Photo from CBS Website
Tumbleweed Homes builds “tiny” houses no bigger than a little more than 100 sq. ft. There’s another company I read about recently that also builds them. They aren’t called houses because they are so small but are called vehicles instead. Tumbleweed is traveling the U.S. promoting their product and may be coming to your town soon.
While many Americans, either due to the economy or personal situations, are wanting to downsize, this may be taking it to an extreme. The average sq. ft. throughout the U.S. is 2,500 sq. ft. Many baby boomers are also rethinking their lifestyle and living quarters. Tumbleweed’s advertisement boasts that when you buy one of their houses, you have no mortgage or utility payments. It might sound appealing to many people and their question and mine is “Do good things really come in small packages” or are they taking downsizing too far?
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Recently I attended a class on in-fill development in Portland. One of the things that came up during the discussion was that builders are starting to buy developed “spot lots” within Portland and they are also doing that in the suburbs as well. The days of the large subdivisions may be a thing of the past.
Further, many of those abandoned subdivisions – (I’ve written two posts about them) – are now being foreclosed upon and the banks are becoming the owners of those subdivisions. Aside from those abandoned subdivisions, there are many lots for sale, unlike in the past. I thought I’d do a check on the availability of those “spot” lots.
The following are the stats as to the availability of vacant lots in the three areas my blog covers – RMLS™#147 Lake Oswego and West Linn, RMLS™#148 West Portland and RMLS™#151 Tigard:
AVAILABILITY OF VACANT LOTS AS OF 8/10/09
|
RMLS™# 147 Lake Oswego | RMLS™# 147 West Linn | RMLS™#148 West Portland | RMLS™# 151 Tigard |
| 0-2,999 sq. ft. | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 3-4,999 sq. ft. | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| 5-6,999 sq. ft. | 17 | 13 | 29 | 15 |
| 7-9,999 sq. ft. | 8 | 21 | 61 | 13 |
| 10-14,999 sq. ft. | 21 | 5 | 34 | 9 |
| 15-19,999 sq. ft. | 9 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| 20,000-.99 Acre | 25 | 9 | 28 | 5 |
| Source: RMLS |
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
The last post on new construction I wrote was in May with May stats and another post comparing Q1 2008 to Q1 2009. It is time for an update.
New Home Trends – Portland Executive Summary 7-16-09 has some interesting data on new construction for our Portland market in their report (you can click on the link to see the full report). The graph below with blue columns shows the Top 50 Builders indicating the number of lots and houses still on specific builder’s books and the burgundy columns show recent sales. Although the numbers are low, inventory and new houses are still selling in Portland.
According to our local Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland:
“The Portland market is on the right track, especially at the lower price points. At the median price point of $250,000, there is five months of inventory, with 6.2 months and 9 months at the $250,001-350,000 and $350,000+ price points respectively.”
BusinessWeek also recently said:
“Since 2006 builders have cut their supply in half, to 281,000 in June, which would take 8.8 months to sell. That’s down from 12.4 months in January. Even modest sales gains in the second half would cut the supply close to the normal five months by year end. Builders have slashed construction of single-family homes so much that the level of starts is far below comparable sales figures. That means inventories can fall, even as construction rises. Starts of single-family homes have jumped 32% since hitting bottom in February, the largest four-month gain in 18 years.”
Here are the most recent stats for new home construction sales in the three areas my blog covers – RMLS™ #147 Lake Oswego and West Linn, RMLS™ #148 West Portland and RMLS™# 151 Tigard. Time on the market is longer and the original list price vs. sale price has been getting lower in all three areas.
New Construction Stats |
Q1 2008 |
Q1 2009 |
Q2 2009 |
| #147 Lake Oswego | |||
| # Houses for Sale | N/A | 36 | 37 |
| # of Pending Sales | N/A | 2 | 4 |
| # of Houses Sold | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| % of Sold Price vs. Original List Price | 100 | 99.94 | 85.65 |
| Highest Sold Price | $1,475,000 | $2,025,000 | $1,715,000 |
| Lowest Sold Price | $675,000 | $579,900 | $961,000 |
| Average Price of All Houses Sold | $962,656 | $941,567 | $1,239,800 |
| Average # Days on Market of Sold Houses | 104 | 137 | 262 |
| Average Sold Sq. Ft. $ | $274 | $234 | $284 |
| #147 West Linn | |||
| # Houses for Sale | N/A | 23 | 10 |
| # of Pending Sales | N/A | 0 | 4 |
| # of Houses Sold | 11 | 12 | 15 |
| % of Sold Price vs. Original List Price | 96.85 | 97.89 | 94.05 |
| Highest Sold Price | $1,090,911 | $2,540,000 | $835,288 |
| Lowest Sold Price | $560,000 | $370,000 | $320,000 |
| Average Price of All Houses Sold | $778,959 | $767,517 | $507,958 |
| Average # Days on Market of Sold Houses | 123 | 145 | 156 |
| Average Sold Sq. Ft. $ | $220 | $225 | $165 |
| #148 West Portland | |||
| # Houses for Sale | N/A | 55 | 52 |
| # of Pending Sales | N/A | 3 | 4 |
| # of Houses Sold | 29 | 14 | 26 |
| % of Sold Price vs. Original List Price | 98.5 | 95.81 | 91.44 |
| Highest Sold Price | $1,230,000 | $1,175,000 | $1,293,788 |
| Lowest Sold Price | $476,000 | $386,800 | $145,000 |
| Average Price of All Houses Sold | $679,507 | $670,597 | $518,650 |
| Average # Days on Market of Sold Houses | 142 | 131 | 149 |
| Average Sold Sq. Ft. $ | $205 | $182 | $183 |
| #151 Tigard | |||
| # Houses for Sale | N/A | 33 | 20 |
| # of Pending Sales | N/A | 7 | 4 |
| # of Houses Sold | 36 | 30 | 28 |
| % of Sold Price vs. Original List Price | 97.78 | 97.72 | 89.35 |
| Highest Sold Price | $775,000 | $545,000 | $574,000 |
| Lowest Sold Price | $304,900 | $345,000 | $250,100 |
| Average Price of All Houses Sold | $448,405 | $418, 745 | $403,521 |
| Average # Days on Market of Sold Houses | 156 | 137 | 208 |
| Average Sold Sq. Ft. $ | $170 | $144 | $144 |
| Source: RMLS™ |
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
For those of you who like the numbers here are my May 2009 new construction stats. I haven’t updated my new construction stats since I compared Q1 2008 with Q1 2009. Here’s a link to that post with stats in case you missed it.
I’ve read several blogs recently where two things were stated that I’d like to share here.
- A few of the major builders in the U.S. are starting to see an uptick in their revenues and orders for new construction.
- That new construction is really a good indicator of the housing bottom rather than the resale real estate market.
Source: National Association of Realtors
The Joint Center for Housing Studies for Harvard University recently stated that:
- Housing starts were down by more than 30 percent for the year in 2008 and more than 50 percent from the 2005 level.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau,
“privately-owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000. This is 17.2 percent (±14.4%) above the revised April estimate of 454,000, but is 45.2 percent (±5.8%) below the May 2008 rate of 971,000.”
Here’s a link to the U.S. Census Bureau’s residential construction report for May 2009.
Sales of new construction are still at historic low levels with little if any construction financing available and practically no new construction being built here in Portland. However, new construction is still selling, ever so slowly, as the stats below indicate yet we still have lots of new construction inventory to sell. Once the housing recovery is in full swing, and there isn’t a lot of new construction in the pipeline, that will only drive prices of new homes up.
| NEW CONSTRUCTION DETACHED SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSESSTATS MAY 1-31, 2009 | RMLS #147 Lake Oswego | RMLS #147 West Linn | RMLS #148 West Portland | RMLS #151 Tigard |
| ACTIVE LISTINGS FOR SALE | ||||
| # Active For Sale | 74 | 38 | 103 | 73 |
| Highest List Price | $6,300,000 | $2,750,000 | $2,695,000 | $1,100,000 |
| Lowest List Price | $449,000 | $384,039 | $274,900 | $279,900 |
| Average List Price | $1,290,461 | $883,991 | $715,245 | $445,794 |
| Average # Days on the Market | 177 | 147 | 145 | 172 |
| Average Sq. Ft. Listed | 4057 | 3781 | 3300 | 2678 |
| Average $ Sq. Ft. Listed | $318.00 | $234.00 | $217 | $166.00 |
| SOLD LISTINGS | ||||
| # New Construction Sold | 1 | 6 | 10 | 7 |
| Highest Sold Price | $1,197,950 | $680,000 | $590,000 | $516,700 |
| Lowest Sold Price | N/A | $320,000 | $340,000 | $340,000 |
| Average Sold Price | $1,198,000 | $518,780 | $445,791 | $416,586 |
| # Days on the Market | 382 | 110 | 157 | 178 |
| Average Sq. Ft. Sold | 4281 | 3093 | 2676 | 2765 |
| Average $ Sq. Ft. Sold | $280.00 | $168.00 | $167.00 | $151.00 |
| Source: RMLS |
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland
I’ve written many posts about seniors and boomers wanting smaller homes. Over this past year I even got on my “soapbox” to reiterate 
my views. Now comes a report from Portland State University that says small may just be a fad and temporary trend, and says people will start buying the “McMansions” once again after this financial meltdown and recession are over.
In another post, I read a contradictory report saying just the opposite from RIS Media.
“So, here we are in the future we once imagined. No robot vacuuming the floor, our SUVs are bigger than a 1960 Lincoln Continental Mark V, and our homes have earned the title, “McMansions” by swelling from an average of 950 square feet to about 2,400. And, in many moderate wage communities, homes of 6,000 to 7,000 square feet are common.
Why? Well, because we wanted them, for one thing. They were the ultimate status symbol and maybe always will be. If a man’s home is his castle, it darn well better feel like one.
As much as a castle-sized home is a status symbol, it is also a symbol of wretched excess and the general contempt of its owner for those of us being crushed under the boot-heels of his enormous carbon footprint. Free market economy or not, no one is entitled to such a gluttonous amount of the planet’s limited resources.
Most of the homes built in the last 20 years are bigger than they really need to be. They consume too many resources to create the materials, the building process has too much negative impact on the surrounding environment, they require too much energy to occupy and they do not guarantee happiness.”
I tend to agree, naturally, with the RIS Media story because I’ve been holding open houses for most of my 34 years selling real estate on Sundays. This past weekend – Memorial Day weekend – I once again held an open house at one of my listings. And, as in the past, I had buyers looking to downsize, wanting the master bedroom on the main level or single level with quality construction and smaller in Lake Oswego. Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe it’s the trend for now because of this recession. However, I have seen buyers wanting that for the entire time I’ve been selling real estate with no good options from builders here in Portland. Time will tell….
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
From California come reports that houses are being torn down in those lonely and abandoned subdivisions. A Texas-based bank said that 
increased foreclosure activity and tighter mortgage financing makes it necessary for these actions. Banks don’t want the foreclosed houses that have been so badly destroyed by vandals that have even further reduced their values. Apparently it’s cheaper for the banks to bulldoze them rather than finish them or sell them at drastically reduced prices. Here’s the video showing the tear down.
Other home builders have weighed in as well saying that the economy is placing heavy burdens on buyers, lenders and home builders. The news the other evening said there are 250 abandoned subdivisions nation-wide and 9,000 unfinished houses just sitting. And, on a recent TV station, it was mentioned that we have 3.5 million excess houses in inventory and that an average year should have 1.5 million houses. Those high numbers are further depressing our real estate market.
However, here in Portland comes a different story about an abandoned subdivision. A platted 27 acre parcel that was going to have 65 homes built in that subdivision has now been turned into a park for everyone to enjoy. Funny, you don’t hear those kinds of stories on the evening news.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, I prepared the following that shows how many single-family building permits were issued by county/cities around the Portland metro area for Q 1 2008 vs. 2009:
| Building Permits By City | 2008 – Q1 | 2009 – Q1 |
| Unincorporated Clackamas County | 152 | 38 |
| Lake Oswego | 11 | 9 |
| West Linn | 7 | 6 |
| Wilsonville | 7 | 2 |
| Unincorporated Multnomah County | 2 | 2 |
| Portland | 184 | 90 |
| Beaverton | 32 | 24 |
| Hillsboro | 39 | 23 |
| Sherwood | 5 | 1 |
| Tualatin | 17 | 1 |
| Tigard | 19 | 7 |
| Unincorporated Washington County | 151 | 79 |
| Source: HUD |
The City of Portland’s Planning Department states that as a sign of the construction slump, applicants have delayed requesting building permits. By the end of 2008, overall building permit applications were down by a third from the year before. Residential permits declined even further, down 64 percent. Applications for land-use reviews were down 36 percent.
According to a recent report from Credit Suisse:
“Difficult appraisals and competition from foreclosures are the obstacles to new home sales. Builders continue to mention their concern about converting contracts into closings due to appraisals that often come in below the purchase price as appraisers use extreme conservatism and use foreclosures as comps. In addition, foreclosures and short sales remain the toughest competition, with prices well below those of new homes.”
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland
SLOW RECOVERY FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION & BUILDERS
It’s been a while since I reported on stats for new construction in our Portland metro areas. Before I get into the local information, here’s a recent article from the Financial Times stating it will be a slow recovery for builders. Even though prices might be edging towards the bottom, with builders offering incentives and financing packages and not a lot, if any financing available, they are still weeding out their existing inventories. With the recent merger of Centex (who I believe has 8 subdivisions in the Portland area) and Pulte Homes, the “word on the street’ is that there probably won’t be many more of those kinds of mergers because existing contracts have clauses stating all debt the construction companies have will need to be assumed by the new owners and we all know about the debts and negative balance sheets those companies are holding.
From Housing Wire comes this article that the March dive in housing starts marks the second-lowest rate since the 1940s and sits 48.4% below the March 2008 rate of 988,000. In stark contrast, last month’s jump in housing starts marked the first increase in eight months and the largest percentage gain in a whopping 19 years. However, many economists have not come to the conclusion that new construction had found a bottom.
The Financial Times article goes on to say what I’ve been saying repeatedly in my blog – that the market is being led by first-time home buyers and that they will lead us out of this recession. Those that can and would be able to afford new construction either have homes to sell which aren’t selling, and the boomers or seniors are over-encumbered or underwater on their existing loans and are unable to “move up” and purchase the new construction. Further, builders because of this downturn are starting to build smaller, affordable homes – something I’ve been ranting about which now seems forever.
Even Portland’s Metropolitan Home Builders Association this year will forgo building their “McMansions” on our annual Street of Dreams and will instead feature penthouses and loft condos in the Pearl District that didn’t sell during our good market and have been hit hard. However, I would much rather see home builders construct smaller, affordable, quality homes on a “Street of Dreams” instead. If there are builders or development companies that have extra cash now, I would think it would be a good idea to pick up those “bargain” plots of vacant land that are sitting abandoned throughout the U.S.
Q1 2008 vs. Q1 2009 Stats
Here is the link to my market update Q1 2008 vs. Q1 2009 New Construction Stats:
*Some additional information, of the builders that have announced financial difficulty, there were 5 Legend Houses sold and 1 JLS new construction that sold in Tigard in Q1 2009.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland
Last year I wrote a post about new construction and builder warranties. In that post, I mentioned a new law that was going to be passed in July 2008 by our Oregon State Legislature. That law is now in effect and as Realtors®, there’s a revised New Construction Sale Agreement we are required to complete when a buyer purchases new construction.
Oregon has long had a one-year statutory right to file a complaint against a contractor with the Contractors Construction Board claiming a breach of contract or negligent or improper work. This was mistakenly called a “one-year implied warranty”. The only “warranties” Oregon law implied on new construction were those that required a structure be habitable and fit for their intended use.
As a part of the new Oregon Revised Statute 701.320, it requires that a building contractor offer the buyer of a newly constructed house a written warranty against defects in material and workmanship. The buyer now has the ability to accept or reject that warranty. If you as a buyer reject the warranty, you can withdraw your offer which permits the builder to sell the house to someone else. Our new sales agreement also gives the first buyer or owner the right to review any and all warranties prior to signing the agreement to purchase. The builder’s warranty plan may cover repairs to or replacement of appliances and other systems in the house or defects in materials and workmanship. The warranty offered may require the buyer to pay fees or charges or may ask that you waive any legal rights. There is no statute or law requiring a builder to provide a home warranty and buyers should consider whether they want a home warranty plan and who should pay for it. Advice regarding the legal effect of warranty documents and any waiver of your legal rights should be discussed with an attorney.
Another law enacted in 2008 relates to a home maintenance schedule by builders. Oregon Revised Statute 701.335 requires a builder to provide a recommended maintenance schedule for the property within 60 days after completion of the house or occupancy, whichever is later. The schedule, at a minimum, is required to contain the following information:
- Definitions and descriptions of moisture intrusion and water damage
- An explanation of how moisture intrusion and water damage can occur
- A description and recommended schedule for maintenance to prevent moisture intrusion
- Advice on how to recognize the signs of water damage
- Appropriate steps to take when water damage is discovered
If you have any questions regarding these new laws, contact the C.C.B. – Contractor’s Construction Board in Salem, Oregon.
Since I started selling real estate in ‘75, we’ve graduated from 1 single page earnest money contract form to 8 pages plus addendum’s, disclosures, etc. Every time there is a lawsuit, it seems there are new forms, changes, etc. The above should hopefully eliminate concerns that buyers have, provide a clearer explanation from builders, and deal with issues that relate to our wet and rainy climate of the Pacific NW.
Source: Oregon Association of Realtors®
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
A survey recently released by AARP states that:
- One in four baby boom generation households (26%) expects to move from their current home in the future, with the majority looking for a single-level home that is more comfortable or convenient, according to a survey prepared for AARP.
- Echoing past surveys, most boomers (79%) say they would like to stay in their current home for as long as possible. Some – less than 10% — said they would like to stay in their current home but don’t think they will be able to do so.
- Many of those who expect to move said they will be looking for a better house, a better climate or a home that is closer to family and friends. More than half of those boomers (age 45-64) planning to move expect to look for a home that’s all on one level (59%). About half said they will look for a newer home (50%) or a smaller home (49%).
- Older boomers are significantly more likely than younger boomers to move into a single level home (68% vs. 54% of those planning to move), but age is not the only factor that affects expectations. Boomer men are more likely than women to believe they will move into a newer home (61% vs. 42%) or move into a home in a warmer or better climate (41% vs. 25%). Boomer women are more likely than men to think they will move into a smaller home (54% vs. 41%).
Ever since I started this blog, I’ve been saying how the Baby Boomers want it, and how trends lean towards it - urban living. I’ve written many posts about “ghostburbs”, walkable neighborhoods etc. since May 2008. In my stat reports as well, it has become obvious, like many other recessions, that the closer-in neighborhoods have been holding their values more than the suburbs here in Portland. Good market or bad, that always seems to hold true. Here’s a recent Yahoo!® article that talks about all of that as well.
Also, Portland State University’s Center for Real Estate - 4th Quarter 2008 report states that the younger generation and the Boomers want to live close to cities:
“The two largest cohorts making housing decisions are the Baby Boomers and their children, the Echo Boomers. In increasing numbers, aging Baby Boomers have been choosing to vacate the suburbs to live in a more diverse life in the cities. And the Echo Boomers, who grew up in the suburbs, are increasingly choosing to migrate to the cities. If you look at the data that we have been charting, you will see that the close-in locations have preserved their housing values much better than the suburbs which have suffered enormous losses. People are voting with their feet and their wallets. Developers and planners need to shift their attention to itensifying and improving existing growth corridors and growth centers”.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
What? Mansionization, what’s that? There’s a new “buzz” word…mansionization. Now from Los Angeles, comes the Mansionization Ordinance. 
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to enact the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance:
“…the maximum residential floor area contained in all buildings and accessory buildings shall not exceed 25 percent of the lot area, except that when the lot is 20,000 square feet or greater, then the residential floor area shall not exceed 20 percent of the lot area or 5,000 square feet, whichever is greater.”
Will that work in Portland? Is all my griping finally paying off? I’d like to think I had a hand in it. If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’ve been on a “crusade” of sorts to get builders to build smaller quality, affordable houses. Actually, I’ve been trying to get builders to do that since the 1980s when I represented 5 builders. Now, there’s a recent article on RIS Media stating that builders are getting it, finally. The economy and Baby Boomers are now forcing builders to rethink new construction.
At the 2009 International Builders’ Show in January builders were talking “small” as housing prices tumble and the economy continues to weaken. I think it’s ironic that during our housing bubble, the houses got bigger and bigger. Now that the economy and people’s wallets are shrinking, so too are house sizes. Whoever thought a McMansion would suit the masses anyway?
Some other consumer housing trends builders will be incorporating into these newer, smaller houses are:
- Fewer luxuries. Consumers say they need fewer luxuries. Twenty percent viewed upgraded landscaping, upgraded finishes such as granite counter tops, and luxurious master suites as less important. High ceilings in main living areas were less important to 35%. There are also fewer fireplaces in new homes: While 62% of new homes completed in 1991 had at least one fireplace in it, 51% had a fireplace in 2007.
- Green elements. Ninety percent they want energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and 31% plan to have geo-thermal heat. There has also been increased interest in home gardens, with more people wanting to know where their food is grown. The green theme touches everything in the home, from the food we consume, our health concerns, green building and even our furnishings.
- Getting organized. With smaller spaces, organization systems are continuing their popularity. More entryways are being outfitted for storage, and homeowners want more functional use of wall space. Sixty-nine percent want a no-space-wasted design and ample storage will take on more importance.
- Practical appliances. Although sales of appliances have been down, freezer sales have been up. The reason: More people are shopping for bargains and freezing what they won’t use right away. Appliance sales have taken a hit … except the freezer. Which is really all about going back to basics, a very practical kind of living.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, 88% of builders surveyed in January said they are building or planning to build a larger share of smaller homes. Eighty-nine percent said they’re planning on building more lower-priced models.
As homes get smaller, homeowners are looking to economize the space they have. There is more interest in “Wii-sized spaces”, family rooms that are flexible enough to accommodate a variety of activities from video games to fitness systems. Outdoor spaces aren’t being wasted either, and outdoor kitchens and entertaining areas continue to rise in popularity.
Source: MarketWatch.com Inc. & Curbed L.A.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
HOUSING RECOVERY
Depending upon which day it is, the headlines are either “up” or “down”. It’s become a roller-coaster ride. Yesterday, I wrote about the appreciation (depreciation) in housing prices in the Portland area. In that post, I quoted an article about housing being on the road to recovery. On Moody’s.com there was a post about the housing recovery as well. Here’s what they had to say:
“Despite the darkening national economic outlook and the weak conditions in the housing market, some positive signs give hope that housing is about to hit bottom. Housing in Crisis: When Will Metro Markets Recover?, a comprehensive new study, evaluates the near-term prospects for housing markets in a recessionary environment.
KEY FINDINGS:
- House prices will stabilize by the second half of this year.
- The national Case-Shiller house price index will decline by another 12% from the third quarter of last year for a total peak-to-trough decline of 30%
- By the end of this unprecedented downturn, house prices will have declined by double digits peak to trough in nearly 62% of the nation’s 381 metro areas. In about 10% of metro areas, price declines will exceed 30%.”
There have been several headlines of late about new construction each one a little different and perhaps slightly conflicting as well:
- Recently a news story about Legend Homes and Pacific Lifestyle homes said the two local builders will enter into a joint venture to sell their unused new construction inventory. 100 homes will be for sale until March 31 at reduced prices. Pacific Lifestyle homes says they are no longer interested in building 4,000 sq. ft. homes and will be looking at different strategies in 2009.
- According to CNBC new housing starts and permits tumbled to a record low in December, accelerating a downward spiral that has left the economy mired in a recession. Housing starts fell 15.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 550,000 units, the lowest on record, from an upwardly revised rate of 651,000 units in November. That was the biggest percentage drop since January 2007, when housing starts fell 16.2 percent. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an annual rate of 610,000 units for December. New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, dropped 10.7 percent to 549,000 units, also a historic low, from 615,000 units in November. That was also sharply below analysts’ estimates of 610,000. Compared to the same period in 2007, housing starts tumbled 45.0 percent in December and permits fell 50.6 percent. Both were the largest year-to-year drops since January 1991.
Housing Starts (State of Oregon)
- New home sales plunged nearly 15% in December - IHS Global Insight is expecting a continuing big drop in new home sales, based on December’s single-family permits numbers, which plunged 12.3%. In recent months, two additional factors depressing home construction and sales have come into play. First, foreclosures and oversupply have driven down the prices of existing homes. Second, the credit crunch has made it difficult for builders with viable projects to obtain financing—so fewer new homes are appearing on the market. We overbuilt from 2004 to 2006, but now we’re under building. When the economy is strong again and people come back to the housing market, there may not be enough new construction units. Supply = demand so we could see higher prices if there aren’t enough new houses built.
- RIS Media report yesterday that new construction starts are continuing to plummet. Builders are also looking to scale back and make homes more affordable. In another article they said that houses are becoming smaller. If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know that’s been my mantra now forever.
Portland New Construction Stats – December 2008
Here are the updated new construction stats for RMLS™ # 148 (SW Portland), RMLS™ # 147 (Lake Oswego), and RMLS™ # 151 (Tigard) for December 2008. Prices seem to continue to drop as is evidenced by the list price to sold price percentage. December saw holidays, snow and wind yet there was still new construction that sold.
| Monthly New Construction Stats–Active,Pending, Sold12-01-2008 To 12-31-2008 | Area 148:SW Portland(Zip Codes: 97219, 97209, 97210, 97225, 97005, 97239, 97205, 97210, 97223) | Area 147:Lake Oswego(Zip Codes: 97034, 97035) | Area 151:Tigard(Zip Codes: 97223, 97224) |
| # Active | 16 | 13 | 25 |
| # Pending | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| # Sold | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Average List Price Sq. Ft. Cost | $242 | $313 | $173 |
| Average Pending List Price Sq. Ft. Cost | $202 | $262 | $162 |
| Average Sold Price Sq. Ft. Cost | $226 | $206 | $131 |
| Highest List Price | $2,695,000 | $2,999,950 | $749,000 |
| Lowest List Price | $354,950 | $659,500 | $295,900 |
| Average List Price | $854,591 | $1,283,354 | $461,162 |
| Average Days on the Market | 130 | 135 | 172 |
| Highest Sold Price | $1,485,000 | $670,000 | $466,000 |
| Lowest Sold Price | $375,600 | $349,573 | |
| Average Sold Price | $881,000 | $670,000 | 422,826 |
| % of List Price to Sold Price | 83.72% | 87.02% | 84.15% |
| Source: RMLS |
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
A Wall Street Journal article said no one can assess the outlook for housing without considering the effects of the 77+ million Baby Boomers. Some housing experts believe boomers will be much less likely than their parents to settle for sun and golf in retirement; they may prefer urban settings with lots of cultural life or to live closer to friends and family. That could mean higher demand and increased prices for housing in urban neighborhoods.
Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California, warns the retirement of boomers over the next two decades is likely to depress house prices in many areas. As boomers relocate to retirement homes, there will be a lot more sellers than buyers in parts of the country. It’s going to really mess up the housing market. He predicts that this “generational correction” will be larger and longer-lasting than the current housing slump.
To get a sense of the effects of aging boomers, Mr. Myers looked at the number of Americans 65 and over per 1,000 working-age people. He sees that number increasing to 318,000 in year 2020, 411,000 in 2030, up from 238,000 in 2000. Many people over 65 buy homes but as they get older become more likely to sell than buy. People 75 to 79 are more than three times as likely to be sellers than buyers. In some areas, younger people will be happy to buy (and probably renovate) those boomer nests. The problem will be in places where lots of older people are selling and fewer young people are settling down. He says the effects will be strongest in the “coldest, most congested and most expensive states rather than the high-growth states of the South or West.” Among the states where Mr. Myers sees downward pressure on prices within the next decade: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.
On the opposite side of the coin, there was a report that said the size of houses has grown by 50% and that our current recession would do nothing to change the McMansions or 4+ bedroom houses. Consumers still want larger homes despite our hard economic times. However. the one thing this article failed to consider unlike the Wall Street Journal article, in my opinion, is how the 77+ million Baby Boomers will impact the future of housing.
© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Our RMLS™ year-end stats aren’t available as yet and I didn’t want to wait for them. Below are the year-end 2008 new 
construction SOLD stats for Areas 147 (Lake Oswego), 148 (SW Portland) and 151 (Tigard). Also included are the monthly stats of active and pending new construction from 12/13/08 to yesterday (1/13/09). In addition, the latest chart for national housing statistics from NationalHousingEconomics.com is posted as well. Bloomberg news reported that the Commerce Department said new-home sales fell 2.9 percent in November 2008 to a 17-year low of 407,000. The median sales price declined 11.5 percent from a year earlier to $220,400.
What surprised me was the low sold price vs. the original list price ratio for new construction in SW Portland for 2008. This past year we saw prices holding higher for resale homes in the closer-in neighborhoods but in new construction that didn’t appear to be the case. These stats don’t include townhouses, condos or attached and only include single-family new construction.
There is still left-over builder inventory and starts have been slow if any. We will see as we get further into 2009 what new construction will look like as the prime selling season – the summer months – aren’t that far away without a lot of new construction coming on the market. Prices to go up as inventory will be down?
We will probably get the RMLS™ stats today or at least within this week. Any updates and new information will be posted soon.
(Note: On the monthly stats I have the areas reversed and noticed it only after publishing so it might be confusing to read).
| YEAR END 2008NEW CONSTRUCTION STATS | Area147 (Lake Oswego) | Area 148 (SW Portland) | Area151 (Tigard) |
| # Sold in 2008 | 30 | 108 | 106 |
| % of Sold Price vs. Original List Price | 93.24% | 79.41% | 92.71% |
| Average Days on Market | 97 | 120 | 147 |
| Average Sold Sq. Ft. $ | $268 | $205 | $163 |
| Average List Sq. Ft. $ | $276 | $216 | $167 |
| Average Sq. Ft. Sold | 3620 | 3213 | 2716 |
| High Sold Price | $1,815,000 | $2,950,000 | $957,995 |
| Low Sold Price | $500,000 | $349,950 | $304,900 |
| Average Sold Price | $968,860 | $656,142 | $441,674 |
| MONTHLY NEW CONSTRUCTION STATSActive/Pending12-13-2008 To
1-13-2009 |
Area 148:SW Portland(Zip Codes: 97219, 97209, 97210, 97225, 97005, 97239, 97205, 97210, 97223) | Area 147: Lake Oswego(Zip Codes: 97034, 97035) | Area 151: Tigard(Zip Codes: 97223, 97224) |
| # Active | 88 | 45 | 74 |
| # Pending | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Average List Price Sq. Ft. Cost | $210 | $318 | $170 |
| Average Pending Price Sq. Ft. Cost | $239 | $247 | $162 |
| Highest List Price | $2,625,000 | $2,995,000 | $1,595,000 |
| Lowest List Price | $168,888 | $719,000 | $369,900 |
| Average List Price | $676,108 | $1,426,376 | $505,585 |
| Average Days on the Market | 137 | 175 | 153 |
| Source: RMLS™ |
ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Betty Jung
Builders + Boomers = Disconnect & Lack of Housing for Seniors/Boomers in Lake Oswego
October 27, 2009 in Commentary, New Construction Stats, Builders, Lots, Seniors, Boomers, Small Houses | Tags: All About Portland Oregon Real Estate, Betty Jung, www bettyjung.com | Leave a comment
Builders + Boomers = Disconnect
I’ve written many posts about Baby Boomers, inasmuch as I am one. In holding open houses here in Lake Oswego, I meet many Baby Boomers as well. All
along I’ve been against the McMansions and have stated so. In addition, however, I have also given kudos where due to the builders who are finally getting on board and building smaller houses.
Now comes word, that everything in my blog posts is “happening” in new construction. Gone is the glitz and glam of yesterday. Gone is the popularity for the McMansions and now the 1,900 sq. ft. house is the most desired sq. ft. by Boomers. It’s the first-time home buyers, the Baby Boomers, empty-nesters, singles, and seniors that all want and need the smaller, quality-built affordable houses. All those add up to a large percentage of home buyers.
In a recent story, along with a MetLife report which I’ve written about,
Guess I’ll stay in the house I have as long as I can do the stairs, as it’s exactly that sq. footage. The article goes on to say there’s been a Builder-Boomer disconnect – I’ve only been saying that forever!
Lake Oswego + Boomers = Disconnect
In last week’s Lake Oswego Review there was an article about the City now once again concerned about the affordability of houses for its seniors and Baby Boomers. Lake Oswego has always been a high-end market with a lack of easy transportation and affordable housing.
Particularly, the West End of Lake Oswego where I live there is no easy transportation with only one limited bus route and service and you have to cross a busy highway. Situated next to I-5 and Kruse Way, the West End would be a logical place to add light-rail along those two corridors. The Kruse Woods Financial District is located at this West End, with office workers not given any choice but to drive. Certainly not an amenity the City can shout about nor can Boomers and Seniors use on a frequent basis. There are no stores or shopping within walking distance from my house other than perhaps Trader Joe’s which is about a mile away. So much for the Walk Score for its West End – the “forgotten child” of Lake Oswego’s City officials.
Everything seems to be geared towards the affluent area of First Addition and near the Lake instead. There is no easy parking at the Library and in fact I’ve had my car hit in its parking lot. Yet the Lake Oswego residents are hesitant to transfer those facilities to its West End Building. The Lake Grove Post Office is severely lacking, and it would be a great addition to the West End Building not to mention the Booktique which is currently in Mercantile Village. We bought the building, so now let’s use it. Are there any Planners on staff at Lake Oswego with the vision to make this an even better place to live?
(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).