I thought I misread the report.
And I’m not referring to Portland’s average sales price. Catching my eye first in the latest RMLS Market Action report, released this afternoon, was housing inventory- now at 15 months; a record high. Back to this in a moment.
As to home prices, the RMLS reports that the average sales price of a Portland area home as fallen 10.5%. In November 2008, the average sales price was $308,300. A year ago, in November 2007, the average sales price was $344,500.
Meanwhile, the median sales price is also down 7%. In November 2008, the median sales price of a Portland area home was $265,000 compared to November 2007 when the median price was $285,000.
Back to housing inventory, if no other homes were listed for sale, it would take 15 months for the supply to dry up. This is a record, far exceeding the 12.8 months of record inventory established in January 2008. The rise to 15 months of inventory happened quickly, rising from last month’s level of 11.1 months.
The RMLS also reports that the 1,041 homes that sold in November was the lowest sales total for a month since February 1993. That is more than 15-years worth of activity.
Percentage-wise, home sales were down 39.9% in November 2008 compared to November 2007. Year-to-date, home sales are down 31.8% comparing January-November 2008 to January-November 2007.
The total market time to sell your Portland home is now 135 days.
As I’ve said before, buyers in this market have tons of selection and leverage. Sellers better price it right at minimum.
Friday, December 12, 2008
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2 comments:
I was listening to CNN Headline news today and they mentioned an article in the Washington post this week "Maybe it's time to buy" - they said it was the most popular article this week. So maybe, the housing recovery WILL start in the new year as people start to cautiously buy again.
I really can't see any kind of recovery until house prices bottom.
With inventory and sales numbers continuing to get worse every month, that's going to be a while off.
Also consider the 2nd big wave of defaults is coming with the Alt-A mess - with substantially larger losses than sub-prime.
Now that Portland is starting to hit double figures in losses price wise the incentive to just walk away is ratcheting up - I'd expect foreclosures rates to start ticking up substantially this year in Portland.
All these economic factors combined with the continued tightening of the cred markets point to a 2009 that's substantially more painful than 2008 has been.
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