Portland Real Estate Market News

Portland Real Estate Market

Our local Portland real estate market is always changing. It takes a very busy real estate agent, top 1% in Portland, to keep a finger on its pulse. We write Portland housing market forecasts twice a year, an annual best month of the year to sell or buy a home article, population growth articles, Portland development articles, articles on real estate market trends, housing affordability, articles on Realtors themselves, and much more. Enjoy!

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Portland Rental Law: What Landlords should Know in 2021

September 18, 2020

The Portland real estate rental market was pretty eventful for rental owners in Portland in 2020. For long-term rental/investment property owners, the contentious FAIR ordinance went into effect city-wide in March, but was soon overshadowed by COVID and the subsequent ban on evictions. Short-term property owners saw a dip in bookings as well, but the situation resolved itself more quickly. Let’s review what the changes were for rental owners in the Portland real estate market this year, and what you need to do to be a successful rental owner in Portland in 2021 and beyond. Before we get started, we should say that we are not lawyers and that this blog post is not intended to be a complete guide...

sell a vacant home or occupied

What Sells a Home: Vacant, Seller, or Tenant Occupied?

September 1, 2020

2020 Real Estate Market Update. You’re getting ready to sell your home and you wonder, should I move out and vacate the property for the real estate market, or should I stay and not worry about it? Or let’s say you’re getting ready to sell your investment property with tenant inside. Should you wait until they leave to put it on the real estate market, or is it better to sell with a tenant inside? A lot of articles we write might have a 10% – 15% impact on selling a home, such as picking the right time of year to buy or sell. Even a 10% difference in being able to sell a home is huge. But occupancy, who...

portland real estate forecast 2021

2021 Portland Real Estate Market Forecast

August 25, 2020

The 2021 Portland real estate market is full of uncertainty, but we’ve experienced enough of the post COVID19 housing market to have some confidence in creating a solid forecast. We will follow up with a second housing market projection in Jan. 2021, but this should be a good guide to any home buyer or seller in the Portland real estate market today. First we will start with a collection of real estate industry predictions: 2021 National Real Estate Market Predictions -1.5% Housing Price Drop, Zillow -6.6% Housing Price Drop, CoreLogic 2021 Portland Real Estate Market Forecasts -2% Housing Price Drop, Zillow +1% Housing Price Increase – My Prediction Will my Home Increase or Decrease in Value in 2021? Honestly that...

how many showings to sell a house

How Many Showings on Average to Sell a House? – 2020 update

August 21, 2020

2020 is a year that will go down in Portland real estate market infamy. We had a massive drop in showings, over 60% in March when COVID first hit the real estate market. The rebound in our market was about as fast as the decline, about 100% market rebound in July 2020. Typically the real estate market in Portland peaks in April or May, this year it peaked in July and has been cooling a touch since then. Average Number of Showings to Sell a Home COVID has changed our world in many ways. It has also changed how many showings it takes to sell a home, but not as much as one might think. Real estate agents are trying...

portland real estate bubble housing market crash

Portland Real Estate Bubble – Housing Market Crash 2021

August 19, 2020

How did we get here? After COVID the Portland real estate market has been wonky. We had a 60% plus buyer traffic drop in March in 2020, then a full rebound by the end of July. Now in August the real estate market here is still hot but cooling some (which aligns with a normal seasonal trend). What will happen next in 2021? When I wrote my analysis of the Portland market in early 2020 before COVID hit, our housing market here was on FIRM footing. At the start of 2020 Portland wages rates were up, Portland employment rates were fantastic, new construction rates were down (keeps inventory tight and the market is less likely to crash), and Portland housing...

average real estate commission report

Average Real Estate Commission, Buyers Agent Rates – 2020 Report

July 24, 2020

When people think of real estate commission, they often think of 6%, 5%, or 4.5% (what we charge as our max. rate). The public is not generally in their mind dividing commission between the sellers agent and buyers agent. But in the vast majority of real estate transactions the commission is split between those two agents, and it is not typically split 50 / 50 like many would assume. No, each area has its own majority commission rate that is offered to the buyer’s agent. All real estate commissions are negotiable, what I’m providing here is research on the local commission rates offered in Portland, Oregon using the data available from RMLS, our local MLS provider where buyers agent commission...

home value estimates online realtor

Home Value Estimates – Online vs. Realtor

July 20, 2020

Online Home Value Estimates are Fast and Hassle Free There is no reason not check your home value online on occasion. In most cases the online value will be in the general range of its real estate market value. However, when you’re getting ready to sell, say anytime in the 12 months prior, you should have a professional, a top real estate agent come out and see your home and give a true value. Online estimates, even in 2020, are not at all close to the actual homes value! See our report on Zillow Zestimates in 2020, and how off they are (and how Zillow cheats to make them look better then they are). While there are more sources for...

real estate commission

Real Estate Commission Report – 2020 National Average

July 17, 2020

Real estate commission data is hard to come by. One of my goals as a real estate agent in Portland is to educate the public and provide transparency within the real estate industry on a number of topics – including commissions. Most of the information you can find online is dated or summary in nature, many without proper references. Realogy Brokerage Group has, “As of December 31, 2019, approximately 710 company owned brokerage offices and approximately 52,200 independent sales agents working with these company owned offices.” They report that their average commission per side was 2.41%, which would equal a 4.82% commission rate for the seller (since the seller typically pays both sides of the commission and the buyer does...

portland real estate foreclosure rate

Portland Real Estate Foreclosure Rate – 2020 Report

July 10, 2020

Over the past five years, the foreclosure rate in the Portland real estate market has been dropping, from close to 4% of total sales in 2015 to just under 1% this year. Even though the total number of foreclosures in Portland has gone down, we’re not back to zero foreclosures, which was the case prior to 2008. Last year, homebuyers successfully closed on just over 100 foreclosure deals (according to RMLS, our local MLS system) and 47 foreclosures have closed already in 2020. But the COVID-19 pandemic prompted lawmakers this spring to prohibit banks from pursuing new foreclosures until at least October. What will this mean for the Portland real estate foreclosure market? We can take a look back to...

portland real estate condo market

Portland Condo Buyers’ Guide 2020

July 6, 2020

Summer 2020 Portland real estate market provides an excellent opportunity to invest in a condo in Portland. We’re seeing a decrease in buyer activity and falling prices in response to COVID-19. Whether you’re a first-time buyer, a homeowner looking to downsize or in search of your perfect second home, here’s our definitive Condo Buyers’ Guide for Portland.  What is it like to live in a condo?  Condo owners enjoy many more amenities than the typical homeowner, from killer views atop high-rises to the privacy of a gated community with swimming pools and tennis courts. However, buyers must enter into HOA agreements carefully, and check the HOA’s financials to be sure that all of the shared costs will be covered.  From...