How Does A Seller's Market Affect Portland Metro Home Buyers?
The Portland Metro area is currently in a major seller's market with the latest real 
estate market stats showing that we have about 3.6 months of inventory. With six months being the average middle ground, anything above this is considered a buyer's market with lots of homes to choose from, and anything below this a seller's market due with lack of home supply.
The inventory...or absorption rate is basically how long it would take for all the homes currently on the market to sell. At 3.6 months, we are at the lowest we've been in years! How does this affect Portland Metro home buyers?
One of the biggest concerns is that sellers that
want to move will find themselves in the same position and not be able to find a home themselves. Knowing that it is a GREAT time to sell their homes, they are still worried that their home will sell quickly with them having no place to go.
Portland Metro home buyers might have to negotiate longer closing periods or offer a seller rent back period after closing to accomodate sellers finding a new home at a certain cost per day. They might also start seeing a seller contingency of finding a replacement home for the sale to go through. Hopefully sellers will take advantage of it being a seller's market and choose to sell. If not, then we might be seeing even lower home inventories. This spring should be a good indicator.
If a Portland Metro home buyer is looking at homes under $250,000. they will find that there is a limited supply to choose from and can encounter being in a 
multiple offer bidding situation...especially if the home is in a desired location and in good condition. Although our short sales and bank owned properties are around 24% of sales according to the fourth quarter RMLS results, many of them fall in this price range. The general rule is that the lower the sales price, the less "wiggle" room there is for price negotiations and I'm finding this to be true.
Portland home buyers are still enjoying great mortgage rates and there are beautiful homes out there just waiting for their new owners. Perhaps that 4th bedroom might have to be sacrificed, or you now realize that you might have to put in some sweat equity to get into a home in your desired neighborhood. Working with a real estate agent that is current with the market and will run a market analysis of a home before making an offer is key to knowing where an offer price should come in so your odds of getting into it are much better.
Graphs from RMLS
Search Here For Your Portland Metro Home
Recieve New Listings Daily As They Come On The Market By E-Mail
Full Latest RMLS Market Report For December 2012
Comments(3)