SEPTEMBER MARKET UPDATE
After quite a wild ride over the past 2 years, the pandemic homebuying craze has seemingly come to an end (or at least a pause). The Portland housing market is still competitive, but has cooled off enough to allow buyers to exercise a little bit more prudence when it comes to making offers and negotiating. While home values continue to appreciate, we aren’t seeing the rapid increases month over month like we saw at the height of the madness. Rising interest rates have kept many would-be buyers at bay, but there is no sign of significant decreases in rates or home prices. For buyers currently on the hunt, the best strategy at this point is to embrace the culled competition, find a house you love with monthly payments you can afford, and plan to refinance once rates come back down. Despite the impending recession, this is a whole different ballgame than what we saw in 2008 before the market tanked, so those waiting for a crash are still likely to be disappointed.
For sellers, some homes are still seeing multiple offers after the first weekend, but that’s been limited to the cream of the crop. Staging, strategic marketing, and an appropriate list price is now the difference between a house getting multiple offers and sitting on the market. Since sellers can no longer count on multiple offers and bidding wars, most are choosing a price they are actually willing to accept. We’re seeing price reductions where sellers got a little overzealous in their initial price point. So when you see those reductions, know that it’s not a sign that the market is crashing—it’s simply saying that particular house should have been priced lower to begin with.
