Why is NE Portland Real Estate so HOT?

January 15, 2013 08:21

I know that the terms "Hot" and "Real Estate" in the same sentence sounds like an oxymoron, but I you just can't get around the facts.  Inventory in Close In NE Portland is currently at 3.2 months for single family detached homes. This number is determined by taking the number of properties on the market right now divided by the number of sales in the past 30 days.  If you take out the short sales (that tend to skew data because of long market times), the inventory number for Close In NE Portland Homes is 2.9 months. TEST

The overall inventory for the Portland Metro Area was 7.2 months in April of 2011, and Close In NE Portland (97232, 97212, 97211 and 97213 zip codes) has less than half that inventory number. Equilibrium in the market is considered about 5 to 6 months of inventory, so these numbers show we still have a buyer's market in Portland as a whole, but Close In NE Portland is way into the Seller's Market category. In other words, Close In NE Portland Real Estate is HOT.

Why would one part of Portland be doing well and another not so well?  I think the close to downtown neighborhoods like Laurelhurst, Alameda, Beaumont, Irvington, Sabin, King, Boise and Eliot areas are doing well because of proximity to the MAX, shopping, restaurants and popular destination streets like Mississippi and Alberta. Proximity to downtown has its benefits too: a short commute or a bike ride to work, and with Gas Prices around $4 per gallon, the residents of the suburbs are spending more of their budget on Gas.  Furthermore, many close in NE Neighborhoods are in the Grant High School District, and Grant is a very highly regarded school.

If you know of any other reasons why Close In NE Portland is HOT, please post your comments.