I hope this finds you and yours safe, healthy and with as much faith in humanity as I’m feeling after witnessing the loss and destabilization rippling through our Northwest communities in the wake of wildfire. It’s really difficult to find the words to describe or express what so many of us just went through. I know I’m not alone in feeling overwhelmed by the tremendous responsiveness, concern and generosity of our community in a time of crisis and uncertainty. If you’re reading this, I want to say thank you for rising to the occasion. None of us are an island and it’s heartening to see how our community is ready to hold each other up.
This is the fourth month in a row I’m writing about the fast pace of real estate here in the Northwest with low inventory, high demand and low interest rates. While transactions fell in the weeks following the fires, activity seems to be bouncing back. Of course recent events add another level of uncertainty to these unprecedented times, but with interest rates forecast to remain historically low, the buying power of borrowers is mighty. According to an Oregon state economist in published in this Forbes article, interest rates could fall even lower. Meanwhile, independent of interest rates and seemingly unaffected by the stock market, the luxury real estate market promises to remain the most stable.
It will come as no surprise that the last 10 days have depleted both new inventory to the market and the pending transaction pipeline.
New listings declined to a level below that of the week before the July 4th holiday, which is the lowest level we’ve seen in 12 weeks. Pending transactions also hit a new low, declining to their lowest level in 19 weeks. None of this is too surprising given the impact of the wildfires on the Portland Metro area during the last several weeks.
During the peak fire threat and the impact from smoke, listing activity declined by nearly 400 listings versus the same period last year. And while pending transactions declined, you can see they still remained elevated from the prior period last year, with 138 more transactions going pending in week 36 and 37. You’ll see that listed properties did not decline last week, instead rebounding from the low point of the fire impact in week 36.
Whether you’re buying or selling, you need a realtor who knows all the moves and how to make them fast! That’s why at Thoroughbred Real Estate you’ll never encounter a junior agent. Our team is exclusively comprised of devoted, seasoned professionals. If we can help you and especially if you’d like to add to our inventory, please reach out! We have agents serving Willamette Valley, Portland Metro, SW Washington and Central Oregon and can even broker deals without ever going to market, especially right now.
