Vancouver RMLS Market Action Report – April 2010

The Regional Multiple Listing Service released the Market Action Report this week and the median sale price for April 2010 was $202,000 this is a 7% decrease from the median sale price for April 2009.

The Vancouver residential real estate market peaked in July 2007 with a median sale price of $269,900. Prices have now fallen 25% from that peak.

Months of supply (total inventory/monthly sales) sits at 6.6 months compared to the 11.9 months of supply for the same month last year. A balanced market has about 7 months of supply.

The first graph compares the median and average sale price with the months of supply. Click on any graph for a sharper image.

The second graph shows the total supply of homes available for sale. This is simply a calculation of the months closed sales multiplied by the months of supply. There are currently 3,465 homes for sale; this is a decrease of 12% from the same month the year before.

The third chart shows closed sales by month. There were 525 closed sales during the month; an increase of 57% from the same month the year before.

The fourth chart shows new listings by month. There were 755 new listings during the month; an increase of 10% from the same month the year before.

The final graph shows how affordable the median priced home is for a family of four. History indicates the ratio is usually between 2.5 and 3.0. The current ratio is 2.89 therefore homes are affordable again in Vancouver!

Portland Case-Shiller Index off 22% from peak

The S&P Case-Shiller Index is based on observed changes in home prices. It is designed to measure the increases or decreases in the market value of residential real estate.

For each home sale transaction, a search is conducted to find information regarding any previous sale for the same house. If an earlier transaction is found, the two transactions are paired and are considered a “repeat sale.” Sales pairs are designed to yield the price change for the same house, while holding the quality and size of each house constant.

Sales pairs from the following counties are included in the Portland index: Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clark (WA), and Skamania (WA).

The first graph shows all historical data for Portland, Seattle, and the 10 city index. The Portland residential real estate market has fallen 2.6% in the last year.

The second graph highlights the changes since the Federal Reserve stopped lowering interest rates in June of 2003. The Portland index is currently at 143.61; a decline of 22.50% since the market peak. The last time the index was this low was April of 2005.

The final graph shows the year over year percent change since June of 2003.