Here’s four real estate related stories in the media this week. The first is yours truly on OPB’s Think Out Loud discussing the same year end Portland real estate market data cited in the second Portland Business Journal article. The third article from the USA Today is more of a national story but interesting nonetheless. The fourth, on Oregon’s unemployment rate (bad but getting better) is a key factor to any housing recovery.
Is the Housing Market Coming Back?
Oregon Public Broadcasting (includes link to stream or download radio segment)Is the Portland housing market beginning to turn around?
Analysts are taking up that question with the release of a new report from the Regional Multiple Listing Service. The bad news is that the organization’s data show the median house price in the Portland metro area fell another 7.9 percent to $221,000. Home sales totaled $5.2 billion in 2011 — an 11-year-low.
Home sales end 2011 mixed
Portland Business JournalYear-end sales figures paint a mixed portrait of Portland’s residential real estate market for 2011. Overall sales rose compared to the prior year but other metrics, including price, fell.
Bartiromo: JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon sees housing at bottom
USA Today (online)Scroll down to question on U.S. housing Market:
We have seen the worst. We are at the bottom. We may hug along the bottom for a while, but we are at the bottom. People think housing is terrible, but the early indicators tell you a lot about where it will be in 18 months or so. Supply and demand are rapidly coming in balance. Renting is now more expensive than buying in half of America. We’re adding 3 million Americans a year. In the next 10 years, we have 30 million more Americans. Those 30 million Americans are going to need 15 million homes, or something like that. Household formation has gone so low. You had kids move back home — and, yes, by the way, it doesn’t work for them, either.
Oregon unemployment 8.9%
Portland Business Journal
Oregon’s unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in three years.
It’s not a real estate article but jobs are a key factor in the housing market.
I’m not loving the orange background on the quotes, will work on getting that toned down!
Looks like mixed reviews in Oregon. With prices falling but homes moving you are poised for a turn around. Hopefully it will come in 2012.
We’ve been getting mixed press in the Phoenix market even though the stats show a significant increase in home prices and multiple offers on almost every transaction we’ve worked on in the past two months. I am glad you included the employment piece as that is the key to any market’s recovery. Good luck, hope you see light at the end of the tunnel.