Portland Metro Area Home Prices 

Monthly Newsletters That Track Portland Metro Area Home Prices

• Moving to Portland Monthly Newsletter  Summary report of the Portland metro area housing market  to include latest home prices, sales activity, mortgage information, weather data, and more. This summary extracts information from the detailed Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS) report for a quick read of the Portland metro area housing market. The newsletter is emailed to subscribers mid-month.
• RMLS Report of the Five County Portland Metro Area Home Prices  For those that want details about the five-county (Oregon counties) Portland metro area home prices. Published by the Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS) monthly.  You can download and save this report. Reports available from 2009 to present.
• RMLS Report of Oregon and Southwest Washington State Home Prices  Detailed report about housing prices for all areas in Oregon and Southwest Washington (Clark County). Published by the Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS). You can download and save this report.

The above reports are usually posted by mid-month. The RMLS reports are usually released and posted on the Moving to Portland homepage website between the 13-15th of each month. 

June 2016:  Signs of a Slowdown in Portland Metro Area Housing Market

Home prices continued to rise in June and the number of properties on the market in the Portland area remains very low, but there are signs the real estate market may be loosening, according to the latest monthly report from the Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Activity has been mixed in 2016 compared to 2015. Closed sales (15,468) are up 2.2%. New listings (21,903) are down 0.3% and pending sales (17,857) are down 2.2% for the year thus far.

The Portland metro area saw an uptick in new listings this June. The 4,501 new listings were a 5.2% increase over June 2015 and an 8.6% increase over last month in May 2016. It was the strongest June for new listings since June 2008, when 5,213 were offered for the month. Closed sales (3,158) outpaced May 2016 (2,896) by 9.0%, but showed a 4.4% decrease compared to last year in June 2015 (3,302). Pending sales (3,390) were cooler in June, falling 6.0% short of June 2015 (3,605) and 4.9% short of May 2016 (3,563). Inventory edged higher in June to 1.5 months. Total market time decreased to 33 days.

Prices continue to rise in the Portland metro area. Comparing 2016 to 2015 through June, the average sale price rose 11.8% from $347,900 to $388,800. In the same comparison, the median sale price rose 13.3% from $300,000 to $339,900.

Affordability

Affordability is calculated according to a formula from the National Association of REALTORS®.  The formula assumes the buyer has a 20% down payment and a 30 fixed rate mortgage determined by Freddie Mac. In the month of March 2016, a family earning the median income ($73,300 in 2016, per HUD) can afford 124% of a monthly mortgage payment on a median price home ($335,000 in March 2016).

You can download the Portland Metro Affordability by Quarter document that shows the index starting from September 2013.

¹2015 Portland Metro Area Home Median Price up 8.1% over 2014

Just 1.2 months’ worth of residential properties were for sale in the Portland area at normal rates of sales, according to December 2015 figures from the Regional Multiple Listings Service. That’s lower than at any time since 1999. As of the end of December 2015, there was a total of 3,381 active residential listings in the Portland metro area. The inventory often takes a seasonal dip in December.

The 33,307 homes sold in Portland in 2015 took an average of only 54 days to close, down from 70 days in 2014. Low central-city inventory, coupled with continued in-migration of young professionals, helped speed up the sales cycle.

The average sales price set a new high in June 2015 from the previous peak in August 2007 by $2.600. The new high is $369,500 whereas the August 2007 was $366,900. The median sales price jumped $18,000 from its peak in July 2007. The new high is $320,000 and the 2007 price was $302,000. But prices quickly returned to a more normal level after the summer home buying spurt as the median price was $304,700 and the average price was $349,000 for homes that sold in September 2015.

²2015 Price Summary

¹The Portland metro area figures above encompasses these five counties in Oregon: Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill. The Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS) report includes separate data for Southwest Washington Clark and Cowlitz counties.
²For details about the 2015 home prices in the Portland metro area you may want to view the December 2015 RMLS Market Action report.

2015 Neighborhood Highlights

The Portland Business Journal reported on the 25 fastest selling neighborhoods (ZIP codes) in their January 14, 2016, edition. Below are some of their findings:

• Of the 25 most-expensive neighborhoods, 15 fell inside the city of Portland’s boundaries with the rest in surrounding cities and suburbs that are part of Portland’s statistical area as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Eight ZIP codes eclipsed the $500,000 mark for average home price, up from just four in 2014.
• The 25 most expensive neighborhoods accounted for just over 38 percent of all home sales in 2015 (105 area ZIPs recorded at least one sale in the year).
• In an impressive showing, five ZIP codes made all three of the top-25 lists for sales volume, speed and price: 97202 (Sellwood/Eastmoreland), 97229 (Forest Heights/Bethany), 97211 (Piedmont/Concordia), 97213 (North Tabor/Hollywood) and 97217 (Arbor Lodge/Kenton).

Here are the top five Portland-area neighborhoods (zip codes) that garnered the highest home sale prices in 2015:

1. 97034 (Lake Oswego): $751,198
2. 97212 (Irvington/Grant Park are neighborhoods in Northeast Portland):  $632.972
3. 97210 (Northwest District neighborhood in Portland): $584,641
4. 97221 (Sylvan-Highlands and Bridlemile neighborhoods in Southwest Portland):  $572,768
5. 97201 (Downtown neighborhoods in Portland):  $546,970

 Zip Code Map is easy to use. Just click on a Portland neighborhood or community and the map will display the zip code(s) for the area.

City of Portland Prices

In West Portland (Includes Southwest and Northwest Portland and parts of eastern Washington County), the average price was $495,100 in 2015, $470,200 in 2014, $444,300 in 2013, $412,300 in 2012, $384,800 in 2011 and $410,200 in 2010. The average sales price change was 5.3% in 201.

The three other areas in the city (North, Northeast, and Southeast) all showed increases in both average price and median price in 2015. Here are the numbers:

• North Portland   The average price was $335,000 and median price $319,600 in 2015 and the average sales price percent change was 14.8% (the largest gain in the metro area).The average price was $291,300 and median price $278,000 in 2014. The average sales price percent change was 10% in 2014. The average price was $266,800 and the median price was $250,000 in 2013. In 2012 the average price was $229,000 and the median price $220,000. The average sales price percent change in 2013 was 16.2%, the third highest of any area.  
• Northeast Portland   The average price was $376,700 and median price $329,400 in 2015 and the average sales price percent change was 8.3%. The average price was $348,800 and the median price was $306,000 in 2014. The average price was $326,700 and the median price was $282,000 in 2013 — the average sales price change was 13.5%. The average price was $288,000 and the  median price was $250,000 in 2012 — the average price increased 8.0% over 2011. The average price was $266,900 and the median price was $229,000 in 2011 and that was a decrease of -5.8% from 2010.
• Southeast Portland   The average price was $330,100 and median price $283,000 in 2015 and the average sales price percent change was 9.0%. In 2014 the average price was $303,900 and the median price was $260,000 — the average sales price change was 13.6% (highest of all areas in the Portland metro area). The average price was $269,900 and the median price was $235,000 in 2013 — the average sales price change was 16.9%. The average price was $230,800 and the median price was $196,000 in 2012 — the average price increased 7.4% over 2011. The Average price was $214,700 and the median price was $181,500 in 2011 and that was a decrease of -9.7% from 2010.

Suburban Communities Prices

All of the suburban communities saw single-digit average sales price percent change in 2015 except Mt. Hood — the highest was  Sherwood/Tigard/Tualatin/Wilsonville with 9.6%. 

In Lake Oswego and West Linn, the average price jumped from $529,600 to $541,80 in 2015 but the increase in home values from 2014 was only 2.8%. These two communities saw the price of an average home decreased from $482,100 in 2012 to $428,500 in 2013.  In 2013 the average sales price change was 11.0% for these two communities. All the communities showed double-digit percentage increases from 2012 — the largest average sales price change was 18.0% for Beaverton and Aloha. See the chart below for figures.

 

Portland Metro¹ Residential² Home Prices 2008-2015

Price	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Average Sales Price	$330,300	$289,900	$282,100	$263,300	$275,000	$310,600	$333,000	$354,500
Median Sales Price	$278,000	$247,000	$239,900	$221,000	$235,000	$265,000	$285,500	$308,000
12-Month Average Sales Price Change3	-3.7%	-12.2%	-2.7%	-6.7%	4.4%	12.9%	7.2%	6.5%
12-Month Median Sales Price Change4	-4.0%	-11.2%	-2.9%	-7.9%	6.3%	12.8%	7.7%	8.1%
1The metro area includes the following Oregon counties: Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill. It does not include Clark County in Washington state. 2Residential includes detached single-family homes, condos, townhomes, manufactured homes, and multi-family units when one of the units is sold. 312-Month Average Sales Price Change based on a comparison of the rolling average price for the last 12 months with the 12 months before. For example in 2013: (1/1/13-12/31/13) with 12 months before (1/1/12-12/31/12). 412-Month Median Sales Price Change based on a comparison of the rolling median price for the last 12 months with the 12 months before. For example in 2013: (1/1/13-12/31/13) with 12 months before (1/1/12-12/31/12).
Source: Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS)

________________

 Communities Average Home Prices and Sales Price Change 2011-2015

Area	2011 Average Price	2011 Average Sales Price Change3	2013 Average Price	2013 Average Sales Price Change3	2014 Average Price	2014 Average Sales Price Change3	2015 Average Price	2015 Average Sales Price Change3
Metro Area
Portland Metro1	$263,300	-6.7%	$310,600	12.9%	$333,000	7.2%	$354,500	6.5%
City of Portland
North	$222,200	-3.6%	$ 266,800	16.2%	$291,300	10.0%	$335,000	14.8%
Northeast	$266,900	-5.8%	$326,700	13.5%	$348,800	7.5%	$376,700	8.3%
Southeast	$214,700	-9.7%	$269,900	16.9%	$303,900	13.6%	$330,100	9.0%
West (Includes SW and NW Portland and NE Washington County)	$384,800	-6.2%	$444,300	7.7%	$470,000	4.7%	$495,100	5.3%
Suburban Communities
Corbett, Gresham, Sandy, Troutdale	$178,000	8.4%	$224,100	14.9%	$243,000	8.7%	$ 263,000	8.1%
Clackamas, Milwaukie, Gladstone, Sunnyside	$220,000	-7.8%	$ 281,300	12.8%	$310,900	10.6%	$335,600	8.2%
Canby, Beavercreek, Molalla, Mulino, Oregon City	$211,100	-8.0%	$272,300	13.9%	$298,800	10.4%	$325,200	8.6%
Lake Oswego and West Linn	$370,000	-1.4%	$482,100	11.0%	$529,600	8.4%	$ 541,800	2.8%
Northwest Washington County or Sauvie Island	$325,000	-1.7%	$395,300	11.1%	$419,300	6.6%	$442,700	5.7%
Beaverton and Aloha	$195,000	-9.7%	$259,800	18.1%	$275,700	6.7%	$ 297,300	7.1%
Tigard, Tualatin, Sherwood, Wilsonville	$254,000	-8.7%	$315,600	10.5%	$336,900	6.5%	$ 370,600	9.6%
Hillsboro and Forest Grove	$189,500	-9.2%	$245,600	13.6%	$270,600	11.1%	$ 293,900	8.2%
Mt.Hood: Brightwood, Government Camp, Rhododendron, Welches, Wemme, ZigZag	$168,000	-7.2%	$227,800	13.7%	$239,900	-1.6%	$ 240,200	0.5%
Outlying Oregon Counties
Columbia County	$145,500	-11.9%	$189,200	15.5%	$200,000	13.3%	$226,600	7.0%
Yamhill County	$173,100	-10.1%	$241,100	12.6%	$221,000	3.0%	$267,100	5.6%
1The Portland metro area includes these Oregon counties: Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, & Yamhill. Note that it does not include Clark County (i.e., Vancouver, WA) in Washington state. 2Residential includes detached single-family homes, condos, townhomes, manufactured homes, and multi-family units when one of the units is sold. 312-Month Average Sales Price Change based on a comparison of the rolling average price for the last 12 months with the 12 months before. For example in 2013: (1/1/15-12/31/15) with 12 months before (1/1/14-12/31/14).
Source: Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS™)

 

Portland Monthly Magazine Annual Neighborhood Guide

The Portland Monthly magazine features neighborhoods in their April issue every year. It has tons of information about neighborhoods to include their pick of the best neighborhoods for the year.

To help those in the housing market, the magazine combines all the data from 120 neighborhoods and communities in the Portland metro area. Include in the story are housing prices, school ratings, demographics, crime statistics, parks, commuting information, and services. For the past three years, Portland Monthly has been cautiously optimistic about Portland’s metro area slow-simmering real estate market. 

To visit the magazine’s website 2014 stories and numbers visit their Real Estate section — click on “Neighborhoods” to view the numbers for the Portland 90 plus neighborhoods and click on “Suburbs” for the numbers for 26 communities in the metro area.

Street Trees Increase Home Prices in Portland

In a paper published in Landscape and Urban Planning, Geoffrey Donovan of the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station found that, on average, street trees add $8,870 to a home’s sales price and reduce its time on the market by 1.7 days.

Donovan and his co-author, David Butry of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland, reviewed data meticulously collected from 2,608 homes for sale in east Portland in the summer of 2007.

What they found was that if a house had street trees and tree canopy close by, that increased the sales price of a house and it sold faster. And that finding, they note, has some public policy implications. Calculating the increased property tax revenue to the city and comparing it to the expense the city bears maintaining street trees, the authors estimate street trees have a benefit to cost ratio of 2 to 1. “In Portland, the benefits of street trees significantly outweigh their maintenance costs,” they write.

Portland State University Quarterly Real Estate Report

The Portland State University (PSU) Center for Real Estate publishes the PSU Quarterly Real Estate Report each quarter. The first issue covered the last quarter of 2006. You can find copies of the report at PSU Quarterly Real Estate Reports

The report is the product of a collaborative effort by the PSU Center for Real Estate and the Oregon Association of REALTORS® to provide service to the local community. The intention of the report is to provide useful information about trends in commercial and residential real estate to the real estate community in Oregon and Southwest Washington. It is very comprehensive and covers the local economy as well as housing.

The report is made possible thanks to a donation by the Oregon Association of Realtors® along with the participation of RMLS, Cushman & Wakefield, Norris Beggs & Simpson and Grubb & Ellis.

Urban Boundaries and Home Prices

The cost of housing is one of the most contentious issues related to Portland’s metro planning. With a median sales price over $300,000 in 2015, this is beyond the reach of many people.

Does the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) cause Higher Home Prices? (see Portland Planning and Growth for a discussion of UGB). The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) desire more land on which to build homes. In their document called The Truth About Regulatory Barriers to Housing Affordability, the NAHB identified 42 markets with barriers, Portland being one of these markets. They called the UGB the “Wall of Portland” and attack it accordingly. The Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland has been among those critical of Metro for being too restrictive in its UGB.

2000 Census Bureau figures indicate that the density in downtown Portland has increased by 30 percent, which is what planners had in mind. Only a few cities in the USA have increased their core city population.

Applying Science to the Debate Sightline Institute, an environmental organization located in Seattle, used some science to compare urban sprawl in Clark County in Washington State and Portland. Clark County is just across the Columbia River and part of the Portland metro area. Sightline used satellite imagery of open space, farmland and pavement, along with digital mapping of US Census data to track patterns of growth during the 1990s. They found that if Portland had taken the same approach to land-use planning as Clark County in the 1990s, an additional 14 square miles would have been developed. Click here to read the full report.

For a review of Washington State’s Growth Management Act, visit the 1000 Friends of Washington Web site.

Rating Portland’s Density

Density is a measurement of the number of dwelling units on a site in relation to its size. The Portland Zoning Code contains both maximum and minimum density standards, which must be met when land is divided to create additional lots or parcels. Density should not be confused with minimum lot size standards. Both density and lot size standards must be met when land is divided. The City of Portland Office of Planning and Sustainability zoning codes can by viewed by clicking here.

At the regional scale, according to Demographia.com, the Portland metro area ranks 19th in density nationally. San Jose, Fresno, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Sacramento—all denser. Even more surprisingly, central Portland isn’t even as dense as many of its own suburbs.

The OregonLive/Oregonian published an interactive map in 2016 showing the density of the area that reveals that many parts of the metro area are not very dense.

Portland’s growth surged from 2013 to 2014, the Census Bureau reported as of July 1, 2015, with the seven-county metropolitan area’s population rising to an estimated 2.35 million. Portland’s growth was 15th-fastest among the country’s 50 largest metro areas. In fact, the Portland metro had the 10th-highest rate of domestic migration out of the 50 largest urban areas, the Census Bureau estimated. That domestic migration rate of 49 percent was the highest this decade. The trend continues and density must be increased to handle the influx of newcomers.

June 2016:  New Development Rules Would Limit Home Sizes, Encourage Density

The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is studying the recommendations based on the input of a committee organized to determine the best way to regulate infill development as Portland grows and faces a housing shortage. 

Portland officials are now looking for public input. The proposals will be available on the city’s website by June 15, and residents can attend a series of open houses throughout June and July. The committee will eventually make a recommendation this fall to the Portland City Council, which could approve or modify the new zoning rules.

The committee’s work comes at a time when Portland is experiencing a boom in development, rising home values and a surge in population growth.

Groups with Different Positions on Housing Costs

Read the opinions of the Cascade Policy Institute, a Portland group that advocates a free-market approach.

1,000 Friends of Oregon feels that the Oregon regulations work well. 1000 Friends of Oregon is a nonprofit charitable organization, founded in 1975 by Governor Tom McCall and Henry Richmond as the citizens’ voice for land use planning that protects Oregon’s quality of life from the effects of growth.

Oregonians in Action (OIA) is a non-profit lobbying organization that leads the fight for land-use regulatory reform and protection for private property rights. OIA authored two ballot measures in 1998: one to require landowner notification and another to give citizens the right to petition for legislative review of “bad state regulations.” In 2004, OIA passed Measure 37, a constitutional amendment that requires compensation to landowners.

Resources

• DataQuick has built a reputation as a provider of real estate information. Although much of DataQuick’s information is available only to its paid subscribers, some of the information at their website is accessible to all visitors. The site covers the California market extensively but it also releases quarterly information on the Portland housing market.
• Federal Housing Finance Agency  (FHFA) publishes a House Price Index (HPI), a measure designed to capture changes in the value of single-family homes in the USA. It also includes an HPI in various regions of the country, individual states, and the District of Columbia. You can view the HPI by the state of Oregon and by the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area). The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 mandates that FGFA publish the indexes.
• Home Ownership a Street at a Time (HOST) 3835 NE Hancock, Suite 101, Portland OR 97212. Phone 503-331-1752. Fax 503-961-9924. HOST is dedicated to providing affordable homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income families. HOST believes strong, healthy communities are created and sustained when homeowners have a stake in their neighborhoods.
• Housing Authority of Portland HAP is committed to providing safe, decent and affordable housing to individuals and families in Multnomah County, Oregon, who face income or other life challenges. HAP offers support through a wide variety of programs and services. HAP’s Web site is designed to educate citizens about these programs and services, and to share how HAP is working to build a stronger community.
• Oregon Housing and Community Services OHCS helps low and moderate-income families in Oregon buy their first home by providing below-market rate financing and cash assistance through its Residential Loan Program. The program’s below-market rate helps eligible families increase their home purchasing power and lowers their monthly house payments. Eligible borrowers will have two options to choose between – CashAdvantage Home Loan or RateAdvantage Home Loan. 
• National Association of Realtors (NAR) is the “Voice for Real Estate.” It is America’s largest trade association, representing one million members, including NAR’s institutes, societies, and councils, involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. Their “Existing Home Sales Data” measures the health of the residential real estate industry. Each month, statistics on sales of existing single-family homes are reported for the national and four regional levels. Statistics on existing condo/co-ops are released quarterly, and figures on existing single-family home sales (detached and condo/co-ops) by states are released quarterly.
• Portland Bureau of Housing & Community Development Their goal is “To make Portland a more livable city for all by bringing low-income people and community resources together.”
• Portland Housing Center The Portland Housing Center is certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as both a HUD Certified Counseling Agency and a HUD Certified Non-Profit Provider of Secondary Financing. It offers resources on how to buy a home.
• U.S. House and Urban Development – Oregon HUD’s mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination.
• Washington County Department of Housing Services Extensive information for finding affordable homes in Washington County (west side of Portland).