Portland Real Estate 2006

Well, the January 2006 data came out several weeks ago. The appreciation numbers were staggering. Most areas in Portland experienced double digit growth and many neighbhorhoods had a close to 20% growth for the period between January 2005 and 2006. Despite the constant rain throughout December and January, and that January being the slower month in real estate, this kind of percentage growth is incredible. For more details of the appreciation data, go to http://maxwellsinclair.com/portland_appreciation_report.php.

The Oregonian also published the popuation growth data for the next 20 years. It's been estimated that our population will grow from the current 1 million to over 2 million by 2025. And the other half will all come from migrants from California. We're already seeing many Californians moving up to Oregon for work, family, and retirement. And given the real estate prices in California being almost unattainable for many people, we'll see a wave of migrants coming through to Portland. As I've been telling my clients, Portland is the last outpost in the West Coast where real estate is still relatively afforable.

This is all positive news for real estate at the beginning of 2006. More later.