2015 Oregon Housing Market Predictions

 The 2015 housing market has seen record highs in Oregon. The market was so strong that realtors’ main complaints were that they had difficulty in finding contractors to perform repairs on their listings, and there was a shortage in appraisers available to complete appraisal reports. Due to these difficulties many closing deadline extensions had to be negotiated in order to keep deals going forward. But with all of the problems that the real estate market has had in the past couple of years few will complain about being busy.

According to the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS) there is a 1.7-month backlog for residential housing inventory. That is a great number and the backlog has not exceeded 4 months since the beginning of 2014. This means that as homes go on the market buyers are quick to view the home and make an offer. Average sale prices are 6% higher year-to-date, and median sale prices increased 7%. And if you’re hoping for the stranglehold on the Oregon housing market inventory to ease up, you might be in for some disappointment. “If you think the inventory’s tight right now… over the winter, it gets even more scarce,” says Lennox Scott, chairman at John L. Scott Real Estate. “There’s just not a big backlog of homes available. And normally we build up a little inventory during the later summer to take us through the winter time. But this year, we’re virtually sold out.”

Portland real estate in particular saw strong numbers through the summer with a total of 3,452 closing sales in July alone. This is nearly 30% higher than July 2014. Home appreciation rates increased in north and southeast Portland by 12.3% and 10.4%, respectively. Many new listings would garner twenty or more showings in the first 48 hours, resulting in several competing offers for one listing. While this would seem that sellers have the advantage, buyers in the area are aware of what the fair asking value for homes are. As such, sellers looking to take advantage of the hot market by pricing their homes too high can expect little showing traffic and a longer time listed on the market. And the demand stretches past the city borders. Even though Portland’s metro areas are hot its suburbs have the highest median sales. For instance, West Linn OR real estate and the Lake Oswego area have median prices of $464,000. Newly constructed homes in these neighborhoods are selling for $1 million or more.

Click here to compare this year’s market to the 2014 Oregon Housing Market

So why are people moving to Portland? The same reason that people are moving to Oregon. Not only is this a very healthy real estate market. The region also boasts a hip-centric lifestyle. The state’s cities are full of personality, and people love Oregon for its world-class outdoor activities. Oregon is a very sought after market, and if you’re thinking of jumping in, be ready to compete with a backlog of buyers. “This will continue to keep up at an extremely low level of inventory well into next year and we see no relief in the current sellers’ market,” says Israel Hill, a managing broker in John L. Scott’s Northeast Portland office.

Influencing Factors for the 2015 Oregon Housing Market 

• According to Zillow Oregon has a home value index of $259,400. This represents a 9.5% increase in the past year, and housing market predictions forecast that it will increase another 4.3% by this time in 2016.
• One negative on the Oregon housing market is that they have a higher foreclosure rate than the national average. In Oregon 5.1 homes per 10,000 become foreclosed. The national value is 3.3 per 10,000. Likewise, Oregon also has a higher percentage of delinquent mortgages (5%) than the national average (4.8%).
• On the Market Health Index Oregon is rated at 6.6 out of 10. The Market Health Index is based on up to 10 metrics including past/projected home values, prevalence of foreclosures, foreclosure re-sales, negative equity/delinquency, and the rate in which homes are selling.
• Homes on Zillow spend an average of 70 days listed.
• According to rental statistics on sites such as Zillow and Craigslist Oregon averages a rental price of $1,508. This is higher than the national average of $1,382.