All real estate is local, and this monthly report is a resource for those buying or selling on the Portland metro’s west side. The data below is for the areas including but not limited to NW Portland, SW Portland, Beaverton, Bethany, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Lake Oswego, and includes all residential resale transactions (new construction not included).
November and December are as good a time as any for those in the real estate profession to take a few days off. Here’s why:
If you, as a buyer, have felt like there just haven’t been very many new listings coming on lately, you’re not wrong. There were 659 new listings in November, which is the lowest monthly number we’ve seen since last December. November is always a low number- there are no Black Friday doorbuster stampedes in real estate- but still it was down about 22% from last November. If December fits the pattern, it’ll run at about 75% of November’s total. Then we should start to pick back up some in the new year once all of those holiday hangovers have worn off.
New listings are one thing, while closed sales and pending transactions are another. New listings were down 22% year over year, while pendings and sales were down closer to 50%. Last year, there were more closed sales in November and December than there were new listings. That makes sense- the transactions occurred in September and October, and there were plenty of new listings then. This year, not so much. There were more new listings than closed sales in November, which is a reflection of the increased market time for listings these days:
Market time continues to increase for closed sales, up to 43 days on average and 23 for the median. I will point out once again that the median days on market was four as recently as this past April, and it was seven last November.
The November closed sale that took the longest to get there- on the market for 432 days- was also the month’s highest-priced sale. It’s this riverfront beauty, and if I had $4.9 million lying around I would have bought it much earlier than someone else did.
As for the prices, we measure in median rather than average so $4.9 million Lake Oswego homes don’t mess everything up:
The median sale price ticked down just under 1% from October, and now sits at $580,000. Peak to trough, it’s down 9.4%- that would be from May, when the median hit $640,000. Just like October, there was a narrow $5,000 gap between median list price and sale price.
However! Even though the downward pressure on prices continues, that median sale price is still 3.2% higher than it was last November. It’s almost as if this past Spring’s silly season didn’t happen.
Lastly, a look at how many homes are selling over or under list price:
Half of all closed transactions happened under the list price. A reminder to buyers out there: list price is nothing but a suggestion.
I am a licensed real estate broker in the state of Oregon with ELEETE Real Estate. Data is sourced from RMLS, and all analysis is mine and mine alone. If I can be of assistance in your home search or sale, please contact me at eli.cotham@eleetere.com or via the contact page.
