The multiple listing service for the Portland metro area has just come out with the numbers for March 2010 Mt. Hood sales. Here are the numbers:

A huge number of new listings came on the market- this could be the "shadow inventory" or people waiting for the market to improve that have been holding on till economic news has improved. There's another wave of foreclosures coming on to the market so if this is "shadow inventory" the timing may be off. Forty three new properties to come on the market in one month is 25% of the entire market of listings for sale!

Real estate is local. No matter what the national media is saying it doesn't pan out in our local market. Oregon has always been a year behind most "national" real estate trends. We were late in the decline and we will be late for the "recovery".

Trends that are showing up:

1. much longer marketing times

2. serious impact of foreclosure sales on pricing

3. declining average sales price

4. increased pending sales numbers

Although this month's percent of sales price change shows 6.7% from last year, I find our data base is so small it does not give a true picture of what is really happening. Portland metro homes declined in price by 10.9% as an average so I suspect our number is greater than that.