New reports on Oregon home values are now available. For the greater Willamette Valley, they show a pronounced dip in Salem area prices, with a lighter decline around greater Portland. First, here’s a price graph for metro Salem:

And here’s the greater Portland price graph:


Inventory Explains Price Shifts
Housing inventory helps to explain price changes. That’s because greater Salem saw a significant increase in the backlog of homes for sale. For example, while the Portland area experienced a half month increase in home supply, Salem inventory shot up by nearly a month and a half, roughly triple the Portland increase. Such an uptick in competition for homebuyers among Salem sellers helps to drive prices down.

The good news is that even with a recent decline in home values, the Salem market is still up for the year, as is Portland’s market. The average Salem area sales price for the first nine months of the year is $188,300, up 10.6% from the same time in 2012. The average Portland metro sales price so far this year is $310,000, up 13.9% from the same period in 2012.
Click here for the complete Portland area housing report.
For the complete greater Salem real estate report, click here.
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