RMLS Metro Portland home inventory climbed to 7.0 months from June’s 6.0 months but City of Portland housing inventory only climbed .3 months to 5.5. This is the third consecutive month that Portland inventory has remained below six months, the inventory level that has traditionally been considered the point between buyer and seller markets. Anything higher than six months is a “buyer’s market” and below is a “seller’s market”.
We’ve been tracking the “local” Portland inventory since April of last year. Since then the local inventory for the five RMLS areas that make up the majority of Portland has averaged 1.3 months less than the Portland Metro area reported in RMLS Market Action. The “Metro” area is a five county region. Inventory is the ration of the number of homes for sale divided by the number of closed sales for that area. North and Northeast inventory remains very low.
As the recent government data showed, the prices are still depressed even though inventory nation wide has dropped to 6 month low.
Jobs are still going to need to be created for home sales to pick up. Also sellers still need to get a better understanding as to what their properties are worth in the current market. Once sellers adjust their prices to the appropriate levels I think we will see more movement in the markest.