Sales activity in the Portland metro area improved in April 2010 compared to the same month a year ago. At April’s rate of sales, there were 7.3 months of residential inventory on the market, the lowest of the year so far.
Closed Sales are creeping upward. The trend in 2010 has been consistently positive growth — look at how the red line has risen each month in 2010. Keep in mind that the market has a long way to go to regain the healthy sales we experience before the economic downturn, but good news is good news! And we are optimistic that the summer months will continue to generate sales.
Pending Sales have increased even since last month. The April 30th deadline of the Homebuyer Tax Credit likely motivated many “fence-sitters” to submit offers, resulting in a high level of Pending Sales.
Less time on the market is better for home sales and typically nets higher values than homes that sit for long periods of time. The fact that the yellow line is below the red line is a good thing. From March to April 2010, average time on the market decreased by about 2 weeks.
April’s median sale price in Yamhill County was $197,000.
Refresher course on the terms “median” and “average”:
The term median price is often used to describe whether market prices are heading up or down. The median price is the point where half the homes sold for more than $197,000 and half the homes sold for less than $197,000.
The average price is the total dollar volume of homes sold for a particular period, divided by the number of properties sold. Average prices of properties sold in the past give a limited indication of what the housing inventory is priced at today.
The median sale price is a more useful statistic because it better reflects the selling price of homes whereas the average sale price can be easily skewed by, say, one million dollar home when most of the other homes sold for $200,000.