How's the Market?

RMLS just released their stats for March 2012, and I like what I see.  We continue to see an increase in both pending and closed sales in relation both to the previous month and the same month a year ago.  Prices are bumping along with nominal increases or decreases depending on exactly where one is looking.

For the Portland metro area, there were 12.8% more accepted offers in March of 2012 than in March 2011, and 7.7% more than February 2012.  And in closed sales, there were 4.9% more than March 2011 and 34.2% more than in February 2012.  Our listing inventory, the number of houses on the market, is LOW. It would take only five months to sell the active listings at our current rate of sale.  This is the lowest inventory since June 2007.

As for pricing, it is useful to look at the most recent quarter, compared with the same quarter of 2011.  The average sales price declined less than one half percent to $251,700, and the median price decreased 1.4%  compared to the first quarter of 2011, to a median price of $212,000.  Commiserate with declining inventory, our average market time has fallen from 165 days in the first quarter of 2011 to 135 days in the first quarter of 2012.

In our office, we have seen a HUGE increase in business.  One of our agents has had three new listings all get pending sales in their first three days on the market.  Holy Cow!  This kind of speed and pressure aren't always my favorite.  I like an active market, but buyers often feel pressed to make quick buying decisions or risk losing out.  If you're curious what your home might be worth, get in touch as I'd be more than glad to update your market analysis.

The Portland area RMLS market report.