January ’24 Market Update

Hello, West Side neighbors. It’s market update time. I have your year end stats for 2023 and predictions for 2024. I’m Julie Williams here with the January West Portland and Suburbs Real Estate Update. Let’s start with the number one factor that has been driving our market or causing it to put on the brakes in the past few years: interest rates.

So what’s happening now? Well, I created a handy dandy chart to give you a visual of the path that rates took in 2023. As you can see, they peaked in October when they reached over 8%, and the market nearly came to a halt. Since then, they have declined to more reasonable levels in the 6.5% range. I anticipate that this will greatly help our spring market this year, which has pent up demand on the part of both buyers and sellers who waited on the sidelines for much of 2023. Depending on inflation and other economic factors, interest rates are expected to remain fairly stable, we hope, and may continue to decline slightly in 2024 and possibly drop below 6% into the high 5s.

Fannie Mae, Zillow, and Pulsenomics released the results of their fourth quarter home price expectation survey, which showed that over 100 of the top housing experts in the country believe home prices will rise on average by 2.4% next year, and 25% over the next five years. The most pessimistic group within the survey believed homes will appreciate by 10% over the next five years, and the most optimistic believed appreciation will rise by 40%. This certainly builds a case to encourage buyers out there to purchase now if they can, rather than waiting.

The Portland Metro 2023 average sales price was $598,000, and that was down 2.1% from 2022. December market time was 60 days on average, and inventory is still low at 2.7 months. Now let’s look at the breakdown of West Side average prices and market times. Beaverton, Aloha averaged $539,500 with 41 days on market. Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Cornelius came in at $545,700 with 66 days on market. Tigard, Tualatin, Wilsonville, Sherwood at $617,400 with 54 days on market. West Portland comes in at $705,500 with 85 days on market. Northwest Washington County at $708,400 with 68 days on market. And Lake Oswego, West Linn at $1,095,500 with 71 days on market.

That’s your update. Thank you for watching. If you’re considering buying or selling and want to know more, or if you just need some advice or guidance, please reach out. I’m Julie Williams, Principal Broker with ELEETE Real Estate, and I’m looking forward to hearing from you.