August 21, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly sales of new and existing homes in the Portland area continued to improve in June, climbing nearly twelve percent from May, while year-over-year sales improved for the twelfth consecutive month according to real estate information provider DataQuick.
A total of 3,198 new and resale homes and condos closed escrow in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area in June. Sales were 11.9 percent higher than the 2,858 homes sold in May and 14.8 percent higher than the 2,786 homes sold in June of 2011. It was the 12th consecutive month that home sales in the area improved year-over-year.
Home sales in the region typically increase around nine percent between May and June but were still 23.9 percent lower than the historical average for the month. Despite the lower than average sales, it was still the highest amount of sales for a June in five years.
Cash buyers accounted for 25.0 percent of the purchases in June, up from 24.0 percent in May but down from 25.2 percent the previous year. Cash buyers paid a median price of $179,748 for the homes that they purchased during the month which was up 7.6 percent from June of 2011.
Absentee buyers, usually investors and vacation home buyer’s, accounted for 27.7 percent of all homes sold in June paying a median price of $202,230. In the previous month of May, 24.0 percent of all homes were purchased by absentee buyers.
The overall median price paid for new and resale homes and condos in June was $230,000, up 2.9 from May’s median price of $223,622 and up 7.0 percent from $215,000 in June of last year.
The current median price is 20.4 percent below the peak median price of $289,000 in October 2007.
Distressed sales accounted for 29.8 percent of the resale market in June with foreclosure re-sales accounting for 15.4 percent of the distressed sales, down from 19.6 percent the previous month, while short sales accounted for 14.4 percent of the distressed sales, up from 14.1 percent in May.
Tags: Portland real estate, existing home sales, Portland, distressed properties, resale homes, condos, cash buyers, investors, median price
Source:
DataQuick