Spring has sprung, maybe the rain will stop. Portland remains one of the hottest markets in the country. Over the past 12 months, the average sales price has increased 11.3%. Demand is clearly outpacing supply and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Fears of a bubble and a burst are valid but there has been a massive change in financing, which was the primary cause of the last crash. That coupled with the supply/demand issues cited above and the region ranking consistently as one of the top places people a moving to a crash seems unlikely at this point. A slowdown is more likely and might even be welcomed to keep prices somewhat in check. Interests rates will rise and that will cause the market to cool.
This is really great info and I love the style you use on these infographics. It’s way easier to understand the numbers this way than to stick them in a block of text like the others do. I was curious if you had some posts about Portland demographics? Like economy, housing etc.
Interesting post, Charles. As you mentioned, a complete crash seems unlikely but a plateau could be welcomed to keep values at relatively affordable levels. How’s the high-end sector (e.g. Lake Oswego)?