November 10, 2011 (Shirley Allen)
Home sales in the Portland area followed seasonal trends and declined as expected from August to September but remained above year ago levels for the third consecutive month according to real estate information provider DataQuick.
A total of 2,296 new and resale homes and condos closed escrow in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area in September. Sales were 9.7 percent lower than August, but were 10.2 percent higher than in September of 2010.
Home sales in the region typically decline 9.9 percent between August and September and were the second lowest ever on record for the month, only surpassed in futility by September of last year. Sales were 36.8 percent below the average September sales amount of 3,634.
Cash buyers accounted for 26.0 percent of the purchases in September, up from 25.9 percent in August but down from 26.5 percent the previous year and paid a median price of $180,000 for the homes that they purchased. The median price they paid was unchanged from August but down from $200,000 in September of last year.
Absentee buyers, usually investors and vacation home buyer’s, accounted for 17.1 percent of all homes sold in September paying a median price of $173,500. That was up from 16.9 percent of all homes sold in August at a median price of $180,000 but down from 18.4 percent of all homes sold in September of last year at a price of $196,500.
The overall median price paid for new and resale homes and condos in September was $220,000, which was virtually unchanged from August and down 6.1 percent from September of last year.
The current median price is 23.9 percent below the peak median price of $289,000 in October 2007.
Distressed sales accounted for 31.1 percent of the resale market in September with foreclosures accounting for 17.2 percent of the distressed sales, down from 17.5 the previous month and 23.4 in September 2010, while short sales accounted for 13.9 percent of the distressed sales, up from 13.0 percent in August and 9.6 percent in September of last year.
Foreclosures jumped up in September as lenders foreclosed on 540 single-family homes and condos, up 13.4 percent from August, but down 23.8 percent from September of 2010. Foreclosures are down 28.2 percent during the first nine months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.
Tags: DataQuick, existing home sales, Portland, distressed properties, resale homes, condos, cash buyers, investors, median price
Source:
DataQuick
