Sales Volume Starts Fall Dip

831 homes were sold in Portland in August, which is 57 less than July. While the suburbs are showing signs of a late summer rally the Portland market is showing the start of the seasonal dip into Fall and Winter.

Wild cards: Prices are close to the peak values last hit in 2007. As prices go up more buyers are priced out of the market which could slow the pace of sales. Inventory is still very low.

I’m predicting around 750 closed sales in Portland (RMLS areas 141, 142, 143 & 148) in September.

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.