It’s almost fall and I wanted to bring you a market update as we head into the home stretch of our hot selling season.
I’ve got big news to share with you this week. The Federal Reserve just cut interest rates for the first time in a long time. They dropped by 0.25%, but the knowledge was out there in the mortgage market that this was going to happen. Rates won’t change much as a result.
However, we are in the home stretch of the hot selling season here in Portland. In July, we were down about 5.2% in year-over-year sales after seeing a 6.4% drop the month prior. There has been only one month this year where we’ve had more year-over-year sales in 2019 than in 2018. The market is not as good as it has been, but it’s still a really good, healthy market. Appreciation is up about 2% year over year, which is also a big change. We’ve seen double-digit appreciation since 2013, but that’s no longer the case.
“I think 2020 will be an interesting year.”
In Southwest Washington, year-over-year sales were down roughly 2% in July. However, the appreciation in this area is up by 4% over the last year.
For the rest of the summer, I predict a pretty good market as we enter the fall. Come 2020, however, there is some foreboding information to look at. In a recent survey, 85% of real estate experts and economists predicted that we will see a slight recession in the next year. It won’t be fueled by real estate like the last one, but I think 2020 will be an interesting year.
If you have any questions for me in the meantime about the Portland or Southwest Washington real estate markets, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
