THINKING OF SELLING? NOW MAY BE THE TIME!
Have you been considering selling your house, but been hesitant because of the Portland Metro market conditions? We urge you to reconsider- since the start of the year we are seeing signs of real improvement in the Portland, Beaverton and Tigard/ Tualatin areas- both statistically and on the ground with our own clients.
So what’s the good news?
Home Prices Rising For the first time in years, there are indications that Portland area home prices may actually be going up. Average sales prices for last month in the Portland area rose 4.3% compared to 2011. Year to date comparison totals between 2011 and 2012 show average sales price rose 1.8%. While these are modest gains, they are gains nonetheless. Certain neighborhoods and areas such as inner-Northeast and Southeast Portland are showing even higher gains.
Less Competition A big advantage to listing your home now, is that you’ll have significantly less competition. The inventory of homes for sale in Beaverton, Portland and surrounding areas is at a 5-6 year low. The RMLS calculates this inventory based on months- dividing the number of active listings by the number of closed sales. In February of 2010 inventory was at 12.9 months, meaning that it would take that many months for the existing number of homes for sale to sell and close. In February of 2012 inventory was only at 6.5 months. That is a more than 50% drop in inventory! This means buyers have half as many homes from which to choose- clearly good news for sellers! Of our last 8 new listings in March, 7 were in escrow in less than 5 days from hitting the market- some even received multiple offers! We haven’t seen this kind of action and urgency from buyers in years. Speaking of urgency, sellers should take note- we expect this to be temporary. As spring and summer approaches, the inventory of homes for sale in Portland always goes up.
Other positive news in the Portland Metro market is that pending sales rose 32.5% and closed sales were up 17.5% in February when compared to 2011. Homes in Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Lake Oswego and Clackamas are selling! Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about your neighborhood market conditions or to discuss selling your home.