Report finds home sales and prices continue to rise, but some markets maintain low prices

The June 2011 Remax National Housing Report was released recently, and found home prices have risen four months in a row, and sales transactions are up for five of the last seven months.

The data showed closed transactions rose 7.5 percent and median prices increased 4.5 percent from May. While the year-over-year transactions and sales numbers are still below 2010 marks, Margaret Kelly, Remax CEO, thinks that the increase in prices and sales over the past few months is a good sign.

"It appears that this market is following traditional seasonal trends as it works its way through a recovery and back to more normal conditions," Kelly said.

The report also found the average days on the market for June was 90, down 4 days from May, and inventories were down 2.1 percent in June than in May.

Portland Realtor David Somerville, however, recently stated that the high inventory of foreclosed properties in the local housing market is driving prices and sales. According to Somerville, sellers have competition from banks which is driving home prices to historic lows, but as supply dwindles more buyers will be financially ready to purchase again. Once the banks sell off the foreclosures, prices should stabilize and demand will return.

"In analyzing the real estate market, many times people make the mistake of focusing only on the demand for homes, not the supply," Somerville said. "What they're missing in this case is a fantastic buying opportunity due to oversupply." 

More News