Portland April 2007 Home Sales
May 28, 2007
Portland area home prices inched up to a new record in April, proving the
region's housing market continues to hold up better than most. Still, the market
lost steam last month: Both the number of sales and the rate of price
appreciation slipped below prior-month and year-ago levels, a real estate
information service reported.
A total of 4,225 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow last month in
the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area(see included/excluded MSA counties
below). That sales total fell 2.4 percent below March and 7 percent below April
2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif. The firm
tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
Last month's sales were the lowest for an April since 3,706 sales in April
2003. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 14 consecutive months.
These annual declines have generally eased each month since sales dropped 26.3
percent last September.
The Portland area's median sale price for new and resale homes combined was
$275,500, which set a new record by inching 0.2 percent higher than the previous
peak of $275,000 in March. Last month's median was 6 percent higher than the
$260,000 median in April 2006.
Though strong in a national context, April's 6 percent year-over-year gain in
the median price was the region's lowest for any month since January 2004, which
saw a 5.1 percent increase. Beginning in August 2004 the Portland area's median
price rose at a double-digit annual pace for 26 months before slipping into
single-digit territory last October. The past five consecutive months have
posted single-digit year-over-year gains in the all-home median.
Multnomah County's $269,000 April median for all homes sold was also a
record, besting the prior $264,500 peak reached this March. The region's other
counties remained 0.6 percent to 4.4 percent below their peaks reached over the
past year.
DataQuick's Portland area statistics reflect sales in Clackamas, Multnomah,
Washington and Yamhill counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA MSA*
| |
# of sales |
Median sale price |
| |
Apr-06 |
Apr-07 |
%Chg |
Apr-06 |
Apr-07 |
%Chg |
|
Resale houses |
3,452 |
3,094 |
-10.4% |
$262,000 |
$280,000 |
6.9% |
|
Resale condos |
320 |
276 |
-13.8% |
$175,000 |
$205,000 |
17.1% |
|
New homes |
771 |
855 |
10.9% |
$281,000 |
$280,000 |
-0.4% |
|
All homes |
4,543 |
4,225 |
-7.0% |
$260,000 |
$275,500 |
6.0% |
*Data unavailable for Columbia (OR) and Skamania (WA) counties in the
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA MSA.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534
Copyright 2005 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.