Market Statistics: May 2020

Every month RMLS publishes statistics on the Portland Metro real estate market. Here's our take on last month's numbers:

Prices in the Portland metro area inched up again last month, with the Median Sale Price ending up at $425,000 in May. This represents an increase of 0.2% from April and brings the Median Price back up to where it was in March, which is the highest Median Sale Price we've seen.

After a large drop in activity in April due to COVID-19 and the statewide Stay Home Order we saw both New Listings and Pending Sales rebound strongly this month. While still down 5.5% from last year, Pending Sales increased by over 50% compared to last month, indicating many buyers are still in the market competing for homes. New listings were also down by over 30% compared to last year but rebounded to a 20% increase compared to April. 

This combination of more buyers and not enough new listings forced inventory down 4.2% compared to last month to 2.3 months. And the total amount of time it took for the average home to sell dropped to 38 days, which represents a 20.8% decrease from last year and a 13.6% decrease from last month. Closed Sales were also down compared to both last year (by over a third) and last month (by 2.6%) but that is not surprising because Pending Sales were down so much in April that we anticipated Closed Sales to be low again in May.

So, the question again is what will happen in the coming months. Some in the Real Estate industry feel that the Spring surge that we normally see each year has just been delayed by a few months and we will see that surge throughout the Summer months instead. With interest rates staying at historic lows and prices increasing only incrementally, many buyers will be enticed to enter the market, further driving inventory down and prices up. We are seeing many moderately priced homes selling quickly with many offers, especially in inner Portland neighborhoods.

With much of Multnomah County slated to begin reopening this week we anticipate real estate activity to continue to increase. An increase in activity typically means an increase in prices, so we anticipate the median sale price to rise in the coming months, though likely at the lower rates we've seen so far this year.

—by Laura Bower, Think Real Estate