PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Significantly more homes were listed on the market in the Portland metro area in January than in December as the median sale price of homes dropped below $500,000 for the first time since March 2021.
In January, the median home sale price dropped to $489,500.
There were 1,938 new homes listed for sale in January, an 80.6% increase from the month before, according to The Regional Multiple Listing Service’s latest Market Action Report.
Housing inventory climbed to 2.7. The number indicates that if no other houses were listed for sale, the number of available houses would sell within 2.7 months. That’s the highest the inventory has been since before January 2020.
This is all occurring as interest rates remain much higher than they’ve been over the last three years. As of Tuesday, NerdWallet said the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate was 6.641%. In 2021, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate was 2.96%.
Since rates began rising, the market started cooling down in Portland. People weren’t buying houses as quickly as they were before, and when the demand dropped, the prices dropped.
In January 2023, there were 1,088 closed sales, a 41.3% decrease from the 1,853 closings in January 2022.
According to the RMLS report, the Portland metro area south of the Columbia River with the lowest median home sale price in January was Southeast Portland, where the median home sale price was $400,000.
In Southwest Washington, the lowest median home sale price was in the Five Corners/Orchards area of Vancouver at $425,000.