A little over a year ago, during a weekly sales meeting at Oregon Realty Co., a real estate agent mentioned that a single-family home on Portland's westside had attracted three offers after being on the market for a mere 36 hours. Steven Lucas, the firm's principal broker, said the comment prompted a lighthearted but telling moment when it was suggested that the listing must be on the ordinary side if it had attracted only a trio of offers during that time frame.
In the same meeting, a Realtor representing a buyer in a separate situation noted that five competing offers had driven up the asking price of a $205,000 house by $25,000.
The Portland area's vigorous housing market -- which last year generated the highest median and average prices and the greatest number of new listings and pending and closed sales since 1992 -- shows no signs of slowing, according to industry sources.
"I'm not hearing that the market has changed all that much," said Lucas, who serves on the board of the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors and is a director of the Realtors Multiple Listing Service. "Barring interest rate increases of a dramatic amount, or a natural disaster, I don't see this year being much different than last year."
The Portland metropolitan area posted record-breaking sales volume of $10.6 billion in 2005, an increase of nearly 31 percent from 2004's $8.1 billion, according to the RMLS. The median sale price of houses in the metro area was $237,500, a 15 percent increase from $204,500 in 2004. Homes spent an average of 43 days on the market last year, the lowest number in more than a decade. That was down from 56 days in 2004.
The metro area had less than a two-month inventory of houses on the market for seven consecutive months in 2005, hitting a record low of 1.5 months in June. Even during November and December, when the market experienced its typical seasonal slowdown, the region still had little more than two months' worth of inventory.
"If you are in the one or two range, [the market] is at a fever pitch," Lucas said.
The fourth quarter of 2005 registered some growth compared with the prior-year period, according to RMLS. New listings increased nearly 8 percent to 9,357 and closed sales jumped 4.4 percent to 8,381.
The RMLS metro-area statistics reflect activity in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Columbia and Yamhill counties.
Dian Lane, designated broker for Prudential Northwest Properties in Battle Ground, and chairwoman of RMLS, said she cannot remember a more active market in the 34 years she has been in the business.
"I don't recall a market this brisk and intense, or with such a very, very low inventory," Lane said. "We haven't had this for a long, long time."
"I don't know if we'll break records this year, but we may not be far off that," Lucas said.
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