By Living Room Realty, September 14, 2023
Find out what’s happening in the Portland real estate market for Mid-September 2023.
Hello! I am Drew Burchette, Principal Broker at Living Room Realty and I’m here to tell you what you need to know about the market for Mid-September, 2023.
The Market
Labor day has come and gone and the kids are back in school. These events mark the reopening of the Portland real estate market and the home stretch before the winter holiday season.
If you’ve participated in the Portland Real Estate market in the past year, I’ve got to give a tip of the hat. It has been a bit of a ride and I respect your intestinal fortitude for giving it a go.
In the immortal words of Mathew McConaughey… NO, NOT THOSE WORDS. This quote from the Wolf of Wallstreet- “I don’t care if you are Warren Buffett or Jimmy Buffett (RIP) nobody knows if this thing is going to go up, down sideways or in ****ing circles.”
The point is this: as a buyer or seller, it is difficult to impossible to time the market. Buyers: at this moment, you are treasured. Sellers: the market is hungry for your house. You are both in a great place to take advantage of these factors.
Timing The Market
Buyers- are you trying to time the market? I’m not going to wiz on your leg and tell you it is raining. Rates today are ****ing terrible and they’ve been that way for awhile.
On the bright side, agents in our market have been able to negotiate some amazing seller credits and repairs, which really hasn’t been a thing in the last several years. Additionally, multiple offers are not a foregone conclusion as they once were.
If rates do come down, it will cut both ways. Yes, your monthly payment will be lower. But there is a ton of pent up demand in this market and we are likely to see a flood of buyers, causing more competition and ultimately higher sale prices.
My advice is this – marry your house (the sale price) and date your loan (interest rate %). With a little luck you can refi in the next few years.
Inventory
In spite of what I am about to say about inventory…it is a great time to be house hunting because there are actually houses to tour and some of them are pretty rad.
Around this time last year there was a gravitational shift in our market because of rising interest rates, but this fell well short of adding a ton of inventory to the market. Inventory, measured in months, remains in the low 2’s. This is slightly higher than where we were this time in 2022 and is DOUBLE the 2021 inventory.
Ask any buyer about inventory 2 years ago and they would unanimously say “there was nothing out there”.
Double of nothing is still pretty low and is still considered a “seller’s market” by any measure. However, there is an interesting dynamic at play. When trying to get an offer accepted, it FEELS like a seller’s market. Once that offer is accepted it flips to a buyer’s market feel.
As the buyer, you really put it out there in offer price and terms to get your offer accepted. The seller really NEEDS you to close because there is no backup offer or the backup offer is sh*t and the seller knows it. This tends to make the sellers begrudgingly flexible when you find issues in your inspection.
Inventory remains low because step up buyers are disincentivized to sell/buy, builder permits for new construction are down and there are no distressed properties on the horizon. Portland has an inventory problem.
On the selling side…when do you list? Exactly when YOU are ready. Yes, we have settled back into more of a normal seasonal real estate cycle post covid. But with uncertainty in the market, mostly around rates and buyer engagement, the market of today is the market that we know.
Make A Move
Living Room Realty is here to connect you with as much information to help you make an informed decision. If you’re ready to make a move, call us today. We’d love to help you find your next living room.
