Portland Median Prices Drop

[deejayoh]

I hadn't seen this, its a bit of a surprise. I am sure our local paper would never lead with this headline. Bit of California creeping northward?


But affordability drops as Portland-area prices go up faster than the U.S. 12-month average

The Portland-area median home price dropped to $285,000 in April, down from $286,200 in March, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service. That was the first March-April drop since 2001.

The normal spring bounce in prices appears weak to nonexistent this year, said C. Morgan Davis, a top agent with Keller Williams. Last year, buyers would expect to pay more for a house each month, but this year, "The market wants more house for the same money," he said.

The April median price was up 5.8 percent over April 2006, a far higher increase than the national housing market. The year-to-year comparison also takes out seasonal variation in home sales.

Housing has become significantly less affordable, even with relatively stable interest rates. As of March, a household with the Portland-Vancouver median income of $63,800 could afford only 95% of the median home price, the lowest since the RMLS starting tracking the data in 1994.

Home prices have grown far faster than nearly everyone's incomes in recent years.

"The people who would have normally bought their first house in 2007, they bought in 2005," said Bill Conerly, an economist in Lake Oswego. "So here it is in 2007. Can we get the people who would buy in 2009 to buy now? No. Because prices are too high."

The inventory of Portland-area homes on the market reached 4.4 months' supply in April, far greater than the 2.4 months' supply in April 2006.

The median house price in Clark County, Wash. was $265,000 in April. That's 2.7 percent higher than a year ago and follows several months of weaker performance than the region's market. The county had 7.2 months of inventory, far more than the 4.8 months in April 2006. -- Dylan Rivera

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