Busy real estate season expected as the city experiences its most robust housing market since the recession.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
An especially busy summer is expected for the real estate industry in Portland as the city experiences its most robust housing market since the recession.
Competition for desirable properties will ramp up, according to an OregonLive.com report.
“I think this summer’s going to be pretty fierce,” said Brian Allen, co-owner of Portland-based Windermere Stellar.
The Portland area saw 2,734 homes sell in April. If sales continue at that rate — if anything, they would typically trend up into the summer — it would take just 1.8 months to sell all the homes on the market. A six-month of supply of homes generally indicates a healthy, balanced market, and 1.8 months indicates a seller’s market the intensity of which hasn’t been seen since 2005. The difference between those years, when the bubble was at its peak, and now is the huge supply of homes that were under construction in 2005. Today, homebuilders builders still haven’t fully ramped up construction to meet demand.
A report by the Regional Multiple Listing Service confirmed that “real estate activity in the Portland metro area was still buzzing this April.”
From the Portland Tribune:
The increases come as city, county and regional leaders are become concerned that housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable for most people. A new report from the Value of Jobs Coalition found median wage earned cannot afford to buy median priced homes in Portland. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and Multnomah County Commission Chair Deborah Kafoury are both proposing more money for affordable housing inn their proposed budget for the next fiscal year. And Metro has launched the Equitable Housing Initiative to spark a regional affordability discussion.
The RMLS report found the highest median home price in April was $469,900 in Lake Oswego/west Linn. The lowest was $190,000 in Central Vancouver. In Portland, the highest median price was $414,400 in west Portland and the lowest was $273,000 in Southeast Portland.
As a response to the impending housing crisis, Metro is searching for solutions.
According to the Portland Tribune:
Controlling rents. Eliminating no-cause evictions. Limiting apartment-to-condominium conversions. Guaranteeing that local residents can rent or buy new housing before outsiders. Requiring affordable units in new residential developments. Mandating that local residents are hired on construction projects.
These are among the policies that East Portland activists are asking Metro to consider to prevent gentrification in the proposed high-capacity transit corridor between Portland and Gresham. They are intended to allow lower income residents to keep living in the corridor, even if housing costs increase because of the new Bus Rapid Transit line being considered for portions of Powell and Division streets.
