The Portland metro area show that only 19% of households are estimated to be able to afford the monthly payment on the median priced home. In November that price was $525,900. That’s a decline of 131,000 households, or 32%, since the start of 2022. The Portland housing market is vastly different now than it was in the beginning of the year.
Data shows that in one year, pending sales and closed sales have both plummeted by more than 40% and new listings have decreased by more than 25%, according to the November Market Action report by the Regional Multiple Listing Service.
The numbers are $8,100 higher than the median home sale price in November 2021. Also, home inventory and how long homes are staying on the market have also gone up. In November 2022, inventory increased to 2.6 months. That’s the highest inventory since September 2019.
On average, homes sold in November had been on the market for 44 days, according to the RMLS report. The month before, inventory was 2.4. It’s been climbing since August. The rising interest rates has made homeownership affordability the worst in recent decades.
The region with the lowest median home sale price was Columbia County at $427,500. In Bend, currently, Lehner said 14% of households can afford the monthly payment on the median price of a home sold in November. It’s a decrease from 23% at the start of the year.
Salem is seeing a situation where only 22% of households can afford the monthly payment on the median home sale price, compared to 38% at the start of the year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Willamette Valley Multiple Listing Service.
Experts state that the combination of lower interest rates, rising incomes and falling prices over the next year should bring affordability back to normal.
