Tuesday, May 30, 2006

State of the Market

Though the statistics continue to suggest that the Portland real estate market is still appreciating at a rate of over 16%, this number could be misleading. We are seeing inventory staying on the market a little longer than last year. This is particularly true for homes of $600,000 and above. For the $200k to $500k segment, homes are still moving steadily.

A 16% is typically indicative of healthy growth. However, we also need to take this number with a grain of salt since the actual market behavior supercedes the appreciation record. That is, home sellers are still pricing their homes high without responding much to the market quite yet. As a result, the successful transactions are still recording a high sales price.

June, July and August will be the three months to watch as we enter the super high season of real estate sales. By end of June, we'll have a better idea of which way the market is going. Stay tune!