While closed sales are down 39.9% from last year, and the national media is full of stories of collapsing prices in some areas of the country like Florida, California and Nevada, Portland really hasn't been hit that hard. Price declines, where they're happening, are modest, and some areas, like West Portland, even continue to appreciate at a historically normal rate (see table below). Chances are, if you're a homeowner, any price declines you've experienced were more than compensated for by the huge run up from 2000 to this year, and you're probably still quite happy that you became a homeowner instead of remaining a renter.

In fact, Forbes has just ranked Portland as the 4th best housing market in the country! See the full article here:

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=18080758>1=35000

On the supply side, new listings coming on the market has steeply dropped. Sellers in the Portland Metro Area, for the most part, are not people who HAVE to sell. When they don't get their price, they simply take their home off the market. If they don't think this is a good time to sell, they don't put their home on the market in the first place. So far, the Portland area has not experienced a rash of foreclosures. The rate is certainly increasing, but people in NW Oregon didn't take out a lot of sub-prime loans. However, there certainly ARE great deals to be had out there. Given the still amazingly low interest rates, if you've ever thought of buying real estate, now is the time. AND, if you're a first time homebuyer, go to:

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com

for details about a program whereby the federal government gives you $8,000 to entice you to buy a house!

Below is information on the market in specific neighborhoods. Data is courtesy of the Realtors' Multiple Listing Service. You can also click on the name of the neighborhood to go to a map that shows all the active listings in that area. You can zoom in and out on that map and click on the little house icons to get details on each property for sale. Remember, averages and medians don't tell you how much YOUR home is worth or how much you should offer for any given property.