Portland Oregon Real Estate Market Update - October 2021

This month we saw another marginal rise in home inventory up to 1.1 months which shows the predicted trend upwards in home availability. This will have significant effects for both buyers and sellers, more on this below. 

The question I have been getting the most from potential home sellers is, "Did we miss the market?". While we may have passed through the intense seller's market of the last year, where most any home could sell with limited contingencies, and for a high price due to multiple offers... We are still in a seller's market. 

A stable "balanced" market is 6 months of inventory, as stated, right now we sit at 1.1 months, so if you are looking to sell a house things are still greatly in your favor. 

You just may have to do more to prep your home for sale, price it more strategically, and have fantastic marketing. Us realtors are here to help with that. 

You will still most likely get an amazing price for your home, you just may get relatively fewer offers, which means buyers will be less inclined to remove the standard contingencies (the inspection period, terms around repairs, and appraisal), and during the transaction you wont have as much power during negotiations. 

But as mentioned it is still a seller's market, so while we will see home inventory rise, meaning more competition from other sellers, you will still be in a great spot to sell for the foreseeable future. 

For home buyers, a lot of people are noting that they are seeing more homes sitting on the market and for particular properties wondering if that is a red flag. 

Where in the market we were in for the last year or so, a house sitting on the market was significant, as things start to level out it will be more common to see homes sit on the market and not sell in one weekend like before. So when you see a home that's been listed for a while, while it can be a red flag it's not always the case. 

We definitely will want to investigate and that is where I can help, but often the reason a home is sitting can be trivial. Common reasons I see are that the home was initially listed at too high of a price, has bad photos/marketing, has an odd layout/needs some minor repairs, etc. 

If the reason a home is sitting is an obvious major repair or structural issue, then yes we may want to not even take a look, but if it's something minor or fixable, it can be worth a shot. 

The time a home sits on the market can also be very particular to a style of home or price point, so I would be happy to chat with you about this more in depth based on your home wants. 

Based on year-to-year trends we should see a stable amount of homes going to the market up until about mid-December, historically that month is slow when it comes to new homes to the market as people start to become more focused on the holidays, especially in the last two weeks of the month. But things tend to swiftly pick back up in January. Everyone has that new year energy and our energized to reach their goals and fulfill their dreams, and often that includes real estate. Both sellers and buyers tend to get energized to finally make that move. 

If you would like to talk further about your future home buying or selling needs, do not hesitate to reach out. Contact us HERE or text 971.361.6114 to set something up.