The Portland real estate market ranks sixth of the 20 cities tracked by Case Case Shiller report that came out this morning for May. It may be surprising to many but the 147.98 (up from 146.25 in April) lags behind only five cities since 2000 when the Index was set to 100 across all 20 cities. A dollar invested in the Washington DC real estate market would be worth $1.82 or $.69 in Detroit according to the Index compared to Portland’s $1.47. The current Portland index is close to June 2005 and May 2009 pricing.
![Case Shiller Portland May 2010 [July 27th, 2010]](https://portlandrealestateblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Case-Shiller-Portland-May-2010-July-27th-2010.jpg)
The graph shows the last four years compared to the 20 City Composite Index. The Composite was 40 points ahead of Portland at one time but almost matches Portland now, actually lagging by a point-and-a-half.
Case Shiller reports “Portland” as the seven county MSA. The report, released on the last Tuesday of every month lags 60 days. It’s not possible to drill into the data like we can RMLS data to see how the City of Portland is fairing.
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Though Portland may be the 6th best performing market since 2000, comparing Portland on a $/SF with other major west coast metro markets shows that Portland is still much more affordable.
My quick analysis via redfin.com shows single family detached homes in the Seattle metro sell for about $220-$250/SF. In the the SF Bay Area, home sales can fetch $300-$400/SF on average, LA a bit lower at about $250-$350/SF & San Diego in the $225-$275/SF range. Portland, however, comes in at a lowly $160-$210/SF, almost HALF that of the SF Bay Area!
Bottom line is you still get ALOT more home in Portland than ANY other westcoast metro market even if the appreciation since 2000 has been one of the best in the country.
But Douglas, I, as an RN, would make twice as much if I worked in LA, Bay Area, and San Diego and about 25% more in Seattle so let’s not forget to bring wages into the conversation when talking affordability.