Portland, Oregon Tops in us for Appreciation!

Buyers market be Damned! Bethany, Oregon and Portland, Oregon remain one fo the best in places in the US to have Real Estate. While the market is not perfect here it is pretty healthy here! Here is the news!


Good news for Mariners fans, bad news for Tigers faithful. This week, Standard & Poor's released its S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index for April 2007 and the news was just about as bad for homeowners in Detroit as it was good for the folks in Seattle. While the Seattle market zoomed up 9.6 percent between April 2006 and April 2007, the Detroit market plunged 9.3 percent.

The composite index and its regional sub-indices use the repeat sales pricing technique to measure housing markets by collecting data on single-family home re-sales, and capturing re-sold sale prices to form sale pairs. Price appreciation or depreciation is more accurately reflected by the change in value of the same properties over time across entire market areas rather than the more volatile median home prices published by the National Association of Realtors.
Of the 20 markets tracked by the indices, 14 showed price decreases and 6 showed price increases. Charlotte was up a healthy 7 percent and close behind was Portland at 6.4 percent. Other markets like Atlanta and Dallas showed modest increases of 2.1 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Steep declines were experienced in several previously frothy markets with San Diego down 6.7 percent, Washington, D.C., down 5.7 percent and Tampa down 5 percent. The Composite Index of 20 markets was down 2.1 percent overall.

Market
Index Value for April 2006
Index Value for April 2007
Percent Change




20 MARKET COMPOSITE
204.82
200.45
-2.1%




Seattle
172.28
188.89
9.6%

Charlotte
123.38
131.98
7%

Portland
172.59
183.55
6.4%

Atlanta
131.51
134.28
2.1%

Dallas
122.41
124.91
2%

Chicago
165.58
165.87
0.2%

Miami
276.37
273.53
-1%

New York
214.97
211.65
-1.5%

Denver
137.28
134.86
-1.8%

Los Angeles
270.44
263.36
-2.6%

Cleveland
120.85
117.50
-2.8%

San Francisco
217.52
211.47
-2.8%

Minneapolis
169.72
164.73
-2.9%

Las Vegas
233.78
226.65
-3%

Phoenix
225.12
215.04
-4.5%

Boston
177.62
169.60
-4.5%

Tampa
235.85
224.13
-5%

Washington, D.C.
250.17
235.92
-5.7%

San Diego
249.35
232.64
-6.7%

Detroit
124.30
112.68
-9.3%

Bethany market picking up already in 2007

It looks like 2007 is off to a pretty good start for the local area real estate market. Our calls and showings have increased. As buyers start to realize that the Portland\Bethany area market is not falling they are gaining confidence in their buying process. In fact this is one of the best times to buy in the past several years.There is some excess inventory and prices have remained flat for the most part. But if you shop and can be a little flexible you will find sellers that are willing to negotiate a few percentage points on a good home. The INTEL layoff seems to have hit us pretty hard but the inventory is selling off and we have indications that the worst fo that is over!If you are selling call us....WE NEED LISTINGS... buyers.... get out there while you can. Rates are great and the market will not stay this way forever. All in all we are looking for a solid 2007 but nobody should expect 1 week sale times or 20% up side in value. I think we will have 1-4% appreciation marketwide by year end and Nationally we will continue to be a bright spot.Best of luck and again make sure to call us to give us a chance to earn your business!ThanksDirk KnudsenPresidentRe\Max Metro503-799-8383

Bethany Oregon Real Estate News

This is a great place to start. Our real estate website www.bethanyhomes.info tracks all of the homes that are avilable for sale in MLS AREA 149 and breaks them down for you by neighborhoods. From Rock Creek to the West and Forest Heights and Cedar Mill to the North this is the #1 and first Website to ever provide information at this level to our readers and clients. Check out our site and all of the Bethany area news here on our website.