Half Of Portland's Homes For Sale Are Vacant

Posted on 04/23/09 11:18 AM

More Than 3000 Vacant Listings In Portland’s Multnomah County Alone

A report released by the Census Bureau recently confirmed that nationwide a record 1 in 9 homes are vacant. That number includes ALL homes, not just those currently for sale. The situation is not quite as dire in Portland, where roughly 1 in every 15 rental homes and 1 in every 38 owner occupied homes is vacant. However, the share of vacant homes that are actually up for sale is indeed overwhelming. Of the 5,500 active listings in Multnomah county alone, roughly 3,000 listings are vacant. That’s the official number. Most likely several hundred additional vacant homes are inadvertently or intentionally labeled owner-occupied.

The numbers are similar for the other two counties in the Portland metro area: Washington county (more than 1,800 vacancies or 47%) and Clackamas county (more than 1,250 vancancies or 40%).

Vacant Homes Constitute Two Thirds Of Current Sales

Not surprisingly vacant homes have been garnering a susbstantial portion of the sales activity in recent months. Sixty-eight percent of all homes sold in the last three months were vacant. Vacant inventory is also moving a lot faster than the norm. In Multnomah county roughly 900 vacant homes sold between February and April. At that rate vacant inventory would sell out in about 10 months.

Vacant Properties Sell At Substantial Discounts

More than 250 vacant properties sold in the $300+ category over the last three months (Multnomah county only). The majority sold at a discount (over most recent asking price!) of 15k or more. Here’s how things tallied up for some buyers:

-Bank owned 4-bedrm SFH home in Forest Heights; listed for 789k, sold for 721k, down more than 60k

-Casey condo, 2,500 SF; listed for $1.4M, sold at a discount of almost 200k

-Four bedrm Laurelhurst home; listed for 399k, sold at a 20% discount

-Ladd’s addition, 5 bedrms, 3000 SF; listed at 469k, sold for 50k less

-Three bed, 1.1 bath Belmont SFH; listed for 329k, sold for 300k

As Dowell Myers, housing demographer at the University of Southern California has noted “This is a different problem[...] now, vacancies we see are from units that have been empty for a period of time.”

Check out the Desperate Sellers Database, for an overview of some of Portland’s vacant properties with the longest time on the market…or drop me a note if you’d like to find out more.

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