Housing prices drop in Portland, national sales down

Housing prices drop in Portland, national sales down

Some think the housing market may be cooling off for good

By: 
Posted: Nov 29, 2018 03:53 PM PST
Updated: Nov 29, 2018 05:34 PM PST

Across the United States, the number of newly built homes has gone through the roof - but many are sitting on the market without buyers. 
National sales are down nearly nine percent from a month ago while the number of new, unsold homes climbed to its highest level in nine years. 
It begs the question: Is the housing market cooling off for good? And what does this mean for the Portland area? 
According to the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, national home sales overall were down 12 percent in October from the same time last year. 
But around the Pacific Northwest, some numbers reflected an even steeper decline. 
Tim Manickam, a broker at JMA Properties, said sales in some parts of Portland and Seattle were down around 20 percent. 
While this may be bad news for sellers, it could translate to lower prices for buyers. 
"I think 40-some percent of homes are having price reductions," said Krueger. 
Manickam said he sold a luxury condo in the Pearl District for well over $1 million this spring while the price on a similar unit dropped by 20 percent this fall. 
"I had listings in the spring where we had six and 10 and 15 multiple offers where buyers were pushing to buy a house and they are taking a step back," Manickam told KOIN 6 News. "There is a limit - there is usually a ceiling of how much they can go and how much they will go. We may be reaching that point today." 
Alyssa Isenstein Krueger, a broker at Living Room Realty, said the sale of homes listed at over $500,000 in Portland have slowed the most, along with homes that need work done on them. 
"This is a normal market, we were kind of on this extreme high for a few years," she said. "The trick is just to be patient." 
It remains to be seen whether the decline in sales is an indicator of the overall future of the housing market, or if it's simply a symptom of the season as the market naturally slows down in November and December. 
"I think it's been a seller's market for so long that the trend is definitely changing," said Manickam. 
The government will release numbers for November late next month. 
Source: https://www.koin.com/news/local/multnomah-county/housing-prices-drop-in-portland-national-sales-down/1627984564

Popular posts from this blog

Millennials Prefer Single-Family Homes Too

Millennials Prefer Single-Family Homes Too DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, JULY 06, 2015 A growing body of research is discrediting what was previously assumed about millennials' taste for real estate. Many housing analysts said this generation of young adults preferred small, urban walkable corridors, but recent studies are revealing a different preference.  Millennials, just like previous generations, are showing a strong preference for single-family homes, according to a new Housing Insights report released by Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group.  Researchers examined the rates at which young households are occupying single-family homes today and also compared it to young adults' preferences prior to the housing crash.  "The analysis reveals that the likelihood of a millennial household occupying a single-family home today is down somewhat from that of young adults at the peak of the housing boom, but is no different than it was for...
Read more

Loan Demand Takes Sudden Leap From Home Buyers

Image
Loan Demand Takes Sudden Leap From Home Buyers July 11, 2018 © REALTOR® Magazine The number of homes for sale is growing in some markets and that may be the main factor behind the latest rise in mortgage applications, economists say. Mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancings increased 2.5 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The rise was fueled entirely by an uptick in home purchase applications. Mortgage applications for home purchases surged 7 percent in the week and are now 8 percent higher than a year ago, the MBA reports. Abounding housing shortages have mostly kept a lid on any notable increases in home sales this summer, but that gradually may be changing. “Even though inventories continue to decline, they are doing so at a slower pace,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com®. “In other words, while buyers continue to see fewer homes available for ...
Read more

10 Fastest Appreciating Housing Markets in the U.S.

10 Fastest Appreciating Housing Markets in the U.S. Residential home prices are set to appreciate at 4.4 percent nationally, over the next 12 months, according to  Veros Real Estate Solutions'  (Veros) VeroFORECAST that was released on Tuesday. However, housing markets out West are likely to see a much faster appreciation that the rest of the country, the forecast predicted. The latest quarterly forecast covers the 12 months from June 1, 2018, to June 1, 2019, and integrates data from 1,005 counties, 354 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), and 13,877 ZIP codes covering 82 percent of the U.S. population. The forecast for Q2 2018 projected that the 10 highest-appreciating markets were concentrated in five states in the West. The forecast also found ten markets that were projected to see a slight depreciation in home values over the next 12 months. All these markets were in the East and South, Veros said. “Washington State and Nevada occupy six of the ten highest-appre...
Read more