Portland real estate market

The Portland real estate market is in a bit of a perplexing situation – although the region continues to face challenging economic times, new residents continue to flood into the area. According to an April 12, 2010 article in the Portland Real Estate Examiner, “Across the nation, foreclosures have hit a new record high. Currently there are 7.9 million loans that are either facing foreclosure or are already bank owned. This is up 51.1% from just one year ago. To make matters even worse, the number of new delinquent loans since January this year is up as well. More than 1.1 million loans that were current as of January 2010 art now at least 30 days late.” The piece, written by Shelby Bateson, continued to say that “Oregon’s mortgage delinquency rate is higher than the national average due to the higher than average unemployment rate here. On the upside however, perhaps, it has been reported by U-Haul corporation that the population in Oregon is growing faster than most states. Portland is the third fastest growing city in the country at 10.16%.”

The average sales price of  Portland homes for sale continued to decline in recent months, according to an April 27, 2010 article in the Oregonian. This piece found that “After showing some small but encouraging gains last summer and fall, Portland-area home prices are falling again, hitting a new low in February, according to the Case Shiller Index released Tuesday.” The article, written by Jeff Manning, continued to note that “Portland prices have declined 21 percent from the peak of July 2007, according to the report. Portland was one of the six major metropolitan areas around the country hitting new floors in February.”

This same decline in the average price of Portland real estate was reported in an April 27, 2010 article in the Portland Business Journal, which found that “U.S. home prices rose in February for the first time since late 2006, but Portland was one of the few exceptions, with prices dipping 4.8 percent in the last year, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index.”