RMLS Market Action for August 2011 the Portland Metro area was released last week.  Inventory dropped to 6.2 months from July’s 7.0 months, and average and median prices slid a little.  This month’s report seems to continue a recent trend of a combination of good news tempered with not-so-good news and vice versa.  Inventory is the ratio of homes for sale to the number of closed transacti0ns.  The market has remained largely flat through the summer.

We’re in San Francisco right now at the Prudential Real Estate Summit Convention.  It’s a gathering of some of the top Prudential agents across the country and our discussion of markets yesterday provides some context to our market.  Washington DC has remained one of the strongest markets despite what the rest of the country has experienced because, “politicians come to DC as elected officials but they never leave, they become lobbyists.”

Denver is seeing an return of the investor.   A strong rental market coupled with low interest rates has the agents there seeing multiple offers on multiplexes.  You can buy a one bedroom condo with a garage for under $55,000 in Las Vegas.

The general consensus is that both buyers and sellers need to take a long term view of the market.   As a seller, if you can wait out the market you’ve got to be planning on five to ten years to see any help from appreciation.  A buyer needs to look at holding their purchase for the long haul too.  If this is “temporary” housing solution with a short-term view buying a house is probably risky.

There’s a lot of concern about the “shadow inventory” that banks are holding onto.  These are houses that they’re are having to hold onto until they can clear up the mess caused by robo-signing and also avoiding flooding the market and driving prices down even further.

Portland Real Estate Market | Presented by the Turner Realtors Team