The Good. The Bad. The Ugly (May Market Report)

The Good:

-Monthly pending sales activity up 5.8% (vs April 2009)

-Monthly closed sales activity up 9.6% (vs April 2009)

-New listings up 1.9% (vs April 2009)

-Inventory dropped from 11 months to 10.2 months – the fourth straight month of inventory absorption

-Month-to-month average sales price stayed solid

The Bad:

-Year-to-year pending activity down 7.4% (vs April 2008)

-Year-to-year closed sales activity down 23.4% (vs April 2008)

-New listings dropped 25% (vs April 2008.) – Note: I view this as a long term “good” thing.

The Ugly:

-Year-to-date closed sales down 28% (vs year-to-date 2008)

-12-month average sale price vs previous 12-months down 8.1% ($315,500 vs $343,200)

The Conclusion:

Here’s the takeaway in a nutshell; The 2009 market is more or less stabilized. Inventory is being absorbed, which will eventually bring balance back to the market. Sales activity is up with sales price staying constant. However, 2009 market activity is down about 25% compared to last year. That’s actually an improvement over the previous months where the 2009 market was down about 33%.

Obviously buyers and sellers are most interested in prices and the 12-month average sales price is down about 8%. From my own experience, that feels about right.

Here’s a quick look at the appreciation (uh, depreciation) numbers in your neighborhood:

· N Portland -6.4%

· NE Portland -4.3%

· SE Portland -7.7%

· Milwaukie/Clackamas -3.4%

· Lake Oswego/West Linn -17.4% (Wow. Those million dollar homes are getting killed!)

· W Portland -27.7% (Ditto!)

· Beaverton -13.3 (Maybe we should just say, “The suburbs are getting killed!”)

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Market Action provided courtesy of RMLS.