Sales Volume Rebounds

767 homes were sold in Portland in April, up from 757 in March. Based on the continued low inventory of homes I expect sales to stay level or rise slightly. Watch for the sales volume to make a big jump in the summer as prices continue to rise.

Wild cards: Prices are rising rapidly, 20-30% over last year in some areas, and that will bring many dormant sellers back to the market. Every month more and more homes are back above water!

I’m predicting around 825 closed sales in Portland (RMLS areas 141, 142, 143 & 148) in May. Seasonally speaking, average prices generally start to drop after the summer peak, bottoming out in winter.

Sales volume is a leading indicator for price. To help predict where the market is going I publish this sales volume trend report. The wisdom is that price follows volume so when you see a market trending higher in sales, prices will soon follow up and when sales volume is low, prices will stay flat or fall.