The vibe from the Portland housing market is that it’s slowly settling into normal, which is a welcome reprieve for buyers. Between skyrocketing prices and low inventory, it’s been tough for them for the last while. So, let’s break down the most important things from the end of 2018.

Price

The median sold price for homes in Portland was just over $375,000, which is actually down from the nearly $425,000 mark we saw during the summer months (part of this drop is a seasonal price decline from the slower pace of winter). Prices are still climbing, but it’s at about half of the rate they were climbing a year ago.

Part of the reason for high prices has been the fact that there just aren’t as many homes to choose from. However, that is starting to change, too. At the end of December, there were 6,034 homes on the market. That’s a thousand more homes on the market than there were at the end of December 2017 and fifteen hundred more than there were at the end of December 2016.

Interest rates are also slowly rising (though they’ve been fairly flat here around 4.75% through the holidays and into the new year). Of course, this limits how much buyers can afford.

Days on Market

More listings mean that homes are sitting on the market a little bit longer (about 10 days longer than they were in December of 2017). Including closing time, that number is now 64 days. However, many homes do still get multiple offers, and go fairly quickly. It’s still a good time to be a seller!

Homes Sold

This was also the slowest December for number of homes sold since 2013! 1,846 were sold in December of 2018 compared to 2,350 in December of 2017 (a 21.4% drop). That number is 13.9% down from November of 2018, when 2,144 homes were sold.

Ready to Buy or Sell?

Buying or selling in a market like ours comes with plenty of good and bad. If you’re wanting to do either one in the near future, give me a call! I’ll be happy to sit down with you and help you come up with a game plan.