Market Conditions Ending August 31, 2009

Well after 6 months of declines in the Portland inventory by month end their was a slight rise in inventory levels from 7.3-7.8 months.  This means that with the average time on market it would take approximately 7.8 to sell all the current listings on the market.  The average sales price continues to on a 12 month rolling average.  From August 2009 to August 2009 the average sales price has declined by 11.4% from $338,500 to just under $300,000 ($299,800).  With the combination of active and pending listings trending lower and new listings and pending sales dropping dramatically it's created an interesting real estate climate.  An average real estate market is approximately 6 months of inventory.  We are getting closer to normal inventory levels due to the fact that very people are staying put because they don't have enough equity in their houses with about 20% depreciation over the last two years to create enough room to sell their homes.  Also banks are still making it very tough to purchase a home.  Right now the homes that are moving and selling are bank owned and investor homes with tremendous value.