Holiday Greetings from RMLS

Happy Holidays to all of our subscribers & friends in the real estate world!

We’re thankful to be working with a great network of 12,000+ Realtors® and real estate professionals in Oregon & Southern Washington. Thank you for all you do & for helping so many people “be home for Christmas” this year.

Warmest wishes this holiday season and cheers to a wonderful 2010!

RMLS™ Holiday Schedule

All RMLS™ offices will be closed for Christmas on December 25 and for New Year’s Day on January 1. Some of the RMLS™ offices will also be closed for an additional day around the holidays.

Closed December 24: Hood River, Coos County, Curry County

Closed December 31:Eastern Oregon

Closed January 4: Florence

The RMLS™ Help Desk will also be closed Saturday, December 26 and Saturday, January 2. Should you need to report an emergency during this time, please call our Corporate Office (503-236-7657 in Portland, 877-256-2169 outside of Portland) and select the “Emergency” menu option and a technician will contact you shortly.

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through December 13

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through December 13

Activity Dips; Perhaps House Hunters Were Holiday Gift Shopping Instead

When comparing the week of December 7 – 13 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 9% in Washington and 11.2% in Oregon.


Click the chart for a larger view

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.

94.6% of Homes Sold for Below $500k in Portland in November

94.6% of Homes Sold for Below $500k in Portland in November

RMLS Portland home sales by price range, November 2009

The original deadline for the homebuyer tax credit was November 30 and it appears that this may have had an effect on home sales in November. Homes that sold for $250,000 or below (likely the price range for many first-time buyers) made up 55.3% of all sales in Portland this November, which is up 10.3% compared to November 2008.

Below is a breakdown of sales by price range:

November 2009 RMLS Market Action Recap

November 2009 RMLS Market Action Recap

Sales up, but in comparison to a dismal month last November

The big highlight this month for many areas is a large jump in closed sales compared to last November. Curry County posted a 141.7% increase and Portland and Clark County set records for percentage increases in same-month sales at 72.4% and 70.5%, respectively.

While these stats are obviously a good sign for market activity, continue to keep in mind that last year we were at the height of the economic crisis and we hit some of the lowest points in sales totals in recent years. So, yes, sales are way up compared to last year, but remember that we’re comparing it to unusually low sales totals.

Has the winter slowdown arrived?
Closed sales had been on the rise in many key areas month-to-month through October, but it appears that the winter slowdown has arrived. Compared to this October, pending and closed sales were down in most areas, including Columbia Basin, Douglas County, Lane County, the Mid-Columbia region,  Portland and Clark County.

Inventory up
Inventory ticked up in every area except Curry County and Union County, however, most areas are well below last year’s inventory levels thanks to fewer listings entering the market and higher sales totals. For example, Portland’s inventory stands at 7.1 months – 53% less than last November’s 15 months of inventory.