Housing on Fire!
Monday, March 21, 2016, Brandon Sawyer, Portland Business Journal
Summon the fire department, because Portland’s residential real estate market is “hot, hot, hot” according to respondents to our survey for The List of residential real estate firms. Ninety-one percent characterized last year’s market that way and 96 percent expect it to be that way this coming year, with only a couple calling it just warm.
“We’ve been seeing double-digit offers on homes and final selling prices exceeding $100,000 over list price,” writes Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO for No. 3 John L. Scott. “Record numbers at open houses, historically low interest rates and strong job growth have created an aggressive market that will continue to be hot for some time.”
Meanwhile, seven out of 10 respondents to the survey for The List of residential mortgage lenders say the top concern for their industry is new increased government regulations, making it difficult to keep up with the pace of the market. Their second-biggest concern is the very low housing inventory in the Portland area not meeting market demands.
That low inventory is also a concern for respondents to the survey for The List of residential property managers. More than 80 percent said that supply of houses for rent was below or way below demand and nearly 90 percent felt apartment supply was below or way below demand.
This undersupply may be driving the rapid rise in Portland-area rents lately. Firms estimated that rents for units they manage have risen an average of 8.6 percent over the last year. Low inventory for sale, likewise, resulted in a relatively high average home sale price of $342,636 among brokerages and an average loan value of $269,082 among mortgage providers.
Brandon curates the Business Journal’s weekly lists and the annual Book of Lists. He also sifts through local economic data to tell stories important to the region.
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