PDX is on Forbes Top Ten List

Great news for Portland. Home owners in the Portland Metro area are in good shape compared with most of the country. We have low interest rates on our mortgages and low foreclosure and delinquency rates. This is according to a study by Forbes.com which names Portland in the top ten cities in the country that are best for borrowers.

I would have to say that the information they used to do the ranking makes it one of the best cities for home sellers too.

Forbes looked at which cities in the country had the lowest mortgage rates. Then they added the 1/2008 to 1/2009 change in percent of homes in foreclosure and change in percent of homes that were delinquent for 90 days or more on the mortgage. Portland is number ten on the list ( The data for Portland is shown below.)

This news is good for sellers too because our foreclosure rate is low. Short sales and foreclosures lower the market value of homes. Sellers who are not in foreclosure must lower their prices to compete with bank owned and short sale properties.

The less foreclosures in Portland, the better for us all.

Here are the details for Portland:

Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR.-WA.

Average Effective Home Mortgage Rate: 5.03%

Mortgages 90+ Days Delinquent, January 2009: 1.82%

Mortgages 90+ Days Delinquent, January 2010: 3.63%

Foreclosures, January 2009: 1%

Foreclosures, January 2010: 1.86%

(To see the other top ten cities check out this link )