Our local multiple listing service (RMLS) released their market statistics for December yesterday. Overall, the number of active listings are down and sales activity is up from a year ago as well from the prior month of November. Consequently, home inventory declined to 5.3 months worth in December.  The inventory level in our market hasn’t been this low since June 2007 when it was 5.0 months!

Comparing market activity to a year ago, pending and closed sales were up 19% and 10% respectively while active listings are down 26%. The median sale price ($216,600) was down 5.8% from last December as well as down 3.7% from the prior month of November.

Within the tri-county area (Clackamas, Multnomah & Washington) inventory is currently lowest in NE Portland (Area 142) at 3.7 months and highest in Oregon City/Canby (Area 146) at 6.4 months. The lowest median sale price is currently in SE Portland (Area 143) at $167,000 and the highest is $379,000 in Lake Oswego/West Linn (Area 147).

Average days on market, the period of time from when a property goes on the market to when it goes sale pending, was at 142 days in December which is 3 days less than the 145 days recorded a year ago but its 7 days more than the 135 days recorded last month.

Click here to download a .pdf document with a detailed graphical breakdown of the numbers for all MLS areas in the Portland metro area.