Portland real estate market conditions December 2010

The Portland real estate market had mixed results in December according to the RMLS Market Action report. Closed sales were up for the month. Inventory—available homes for sale in Portland—were down.

To compare December with the previous month, check my previous market conditions blog.

Comparing December 2010 with December 2009: there were 2.9% less closed sales. However pending sales increased 6% and new listings were down by 8.5%. (Remember, December’s pending sales are generally January’s closed sales. So expect brighter news next month.)

December 2010 compared with November 2010: There were big increases in closed sales over November—14.3%. But pending sales dropped 15.2% and new listings were down a whopping 22.2%. But then, December always has that effect on the real estate market. Sellers don’t generally put their house up for sale just before Christmas. They prefer to wait until after the holidays.

At the current rate of sales the Portland real estate market has 7.9 months of inventory. (In November there were 10.2 months of inventory. See the chart and explanation below for more details.)

Sales Prices: For December 2010 the average sales price for a home in Portland went down 5.2% compared with December 2009. The median home price was down 5%. But looking at December 2010 compared with November 2010, the average sales price went up 2.2%. (See the Portland Metro Residential Highlights chart below for more details.)

Is it a buyers market or a seller’s market? See the chart below.

It’s all based on the number of months of inventory. How many months would it take to sell all the homes currently on the market if no new property came up for sale? Less than 4 months inventory is a sellers market;  4-6 months is a neutral market; and more than 6 months inventory is a buyers market. All information is courtesy of RMLS.