January home sales figures show inventory shortage persists
Updated: Jan. 10, 2019, 9:03 a.m. | Published: Feb. 15, 2013, 2:57 p.m.
A pre-sold home under construction at Arbor Oaks in North Bethany.
By Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive
January brought a surge in home listings, but brisk sales left the market looking just as picked-over as in December.
The home sales numbers from the
Regional Multiple Listing Service
suggest no relief to the inventory crunch that started in the early months of 2012 and persisted through the rest of the year. However, the month did show improvement in sales and prices compared with a year earlier.
The tight market has left some buyers frustrated with the lack of selection and the quick decision-making required to nail down a home.
About 1,300 homes were sold in January, 9.8 percent more than the same month a year earlier. Another 1,900 went under a contract during the month, and most of those deals will be finalized in coming months.
But with only 2,400 homes newly listed for sale -- 6.7 percent fewer than a year earlier -- the overall inventory of homes for sale rose by just a handful of houses in a month usually characterized by a rebound from the holiday lull.
"Everyone's got a buyer, but they just can't find a listing," said Jeff Bale, a managing broker at
Redfin for Portland-Vancouver
By the end of the month, only 6,366 houses were listed for sale. At January's rate of sales, those homes would be sold in 4.7 months. Six months is considered a balanced market, and anything below suggests demand exceeds supply.
"We continue to see lots and lots of multiple-offer type situations," said Bill Berger, a managing principal broker with
Hasson Co. Realtors in Lake Oswego
. "To me, that just says we've got really high demand right now."
Would-be homebuyers who put off their search while prices were falling are now showing up, lured also by interest rates that remain near record lows. On Thursday, Freddie Mac reported the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 3.53 percent, near the 3.31 percent record low reached in November.
The median price for homes sold in January was $248,000, up 19.5 percent from $207,500 a year ago and virtually unchanged from a month earlier. Pricing statistics from sales can be affected by the types of homes sold during the month, and the increase in part reflects a smaller share of deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales.
"The distressed property sales are way down," Berger said. "I was really kind of stunned at how few short sales and bank owned properties came into the market during the month of January."
Another contributing factor may be an influx of move-up buyers, who find themselves with greater buying power at lower interest rates, Bale said.
On average, homes spent 114 days on the market from listing to closing, about three weeks less than a year ago.
Elliot Njus
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