Skip to main content
The Portland metro area’s real estate market cooled in July by just about every measure, as new listings, pending sales, closed sales and prices all fell compared with July 2022, according to the latest report from the Regional Multiple Listing Service, a firm that tracks sales in the Northwest.
RMLS doesn’t comment on causes for market action, but Portland’s market mirrored a trend nationwide, where higher mortgage rates are making sellers less willing to part with houses and move, constraining supply.
A telling figure: Despite Portland’s well-publicized problems, inventory of homes stood at 2.4 months in July, meaning it would take that long to sell all the homes on the market at the current pace. Nationwide, inventory stood at 7.4 months in June, the latest month available, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
“Home sales are still on target for their lowest annual tally in more than a decade in 2023, and the market has no slack, with homeowner vacancy hitting a new record low,” Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com said on Friday. New listings fell 17% in the week ending July 29, Realtor.com said, the 56th weekly decline.
In the Portland metro area, new listings fell 23% to 2,899 in July from 3,763 in July 2022, RMLS said. Pending sales fell 12.3% from a year ago, and closed sales slumped 19.3%, RMLS said.
Prices fell by a far smaller percentage, another indicator of tight supply. The median sale price in the Portland metro area fell just 2.8% to $549,990 in July from $566,000 a year ago, RMLS said.
Rates have been rising, meantime. The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage stood at 6.9% on Aug. 3, according to the St. Louis Fed, up from 5% a year ago, and just under 3% in August 2021.
