April
APRIL 2005 MARKET NEWS

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April Residential Highlights

Last April, inventory in the greater Portland metro area started its record breaking decline. With 5,353 active residential listings and 3,051 closed sales, this April tied March 2005, with an inventory of 1.8, the lowest recorded measure to that point. Factors of the reduced inventory include an increase in closed sales (up 13% from April 2004), an increase in pending sales (up 11.1%), and a noticeable 5% decrease in new listings.

Year-To-Date

Statistics in the table below show a 25.1% increase in closed sales, a 19.5% increase in pending sales, and a 1.1% increase in new listings when comparing this year to date to the same period in 2004.

Appreciation

The area’s average sale price for the last twelve months was $254,100–up 11% from the $228,900 average fro the twelve months prior.  Using the same date range to compare median sale price we see a 11.5% appreciation rate ($211,900 v. $190,000).

Affordability

At the end of the first quarter of 2005, a family making the area’s median income made 33% more than necessary to afford the area’s median-priced home ($223,000), based on a NAR formula (see graph on last page). The formula requires a 20% down payment and a 30 year fixed rate mortgage at Freddie Mac’s reported 5.93% interest rate. HUD identifies the median family annual income as $67,900.

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