• Portland’s reprieve from the national housing debacle may be due in part to the high quality of life that continues to attract newcomers, a diverse economy and a low rate of sub-prime foreclosures.
• Portland has a 6% annual appreciation rate, fantastic when compared with lower or even negative rates in other cities across the nation.
• New housing prices have been more volatile than existing housing prices. This is primarily because developers with a large quantity of new housing units have high carrying and marketing costs and therefore need to sell their product more quickly than an individual owner of an existing house who has the option of waiting for the market to improve. Over the past year, the median price of a new detached house fell eight percent or $30,000. Now is the time to buy a new home!
  
  Source: Portalnd State University
  
  
• Oregon has one of the lowest rates of risky mortgages in the country, which makes the market more stable. And in a September 2006 report, the Consumer Federation of America found that our rate of subprime refinancing was the lowest of any state. In terms of delinquencies and foreclosures, there is no crisis in Oregon. According to a July 2006 National Association of Realtors’ study, the mortgage delinquency rate in Oregon is half the national average: 2 percent vs. 4 percent.  These figures show that Oregon’s market is not the unstable market in crisis that so many other areas of the US are experiencing.
  
  Source: Portland State University

• The 10.4 month housing inventory supply has dropped from January's record level of 12.8 months to 10.4 months. This is a significant decrease in inventory. Housing inventory numbers should not be confused with “time spent on the market” numbers. These housing inventory numbers mean that if no other homes were listed for sale, it would take 10.4 months to move thru all of the available inventory.
• Current 2008 appreciation rates for the Portland area are as follows:

8.5% = Lake Oswego, West Linn
7.6% = North Portland
7.2% = Southeast Portland
6.5% = Northeast Portland
6.5% = Northwest Washington County
4.5% = West Portland
4.1% = Hillsboro, Forest Grove
3.9% = Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale
3.5% = Beaverton, Aloha
3.5% = Northwest Washington County
0.7% = Oregon City, Canby
-6.7% = Milwaukie, Clackamas, Happy Valley

Source: Portland Oregon Real Estate Blog