Portland home sales and prices slide as foreclosures drag market down

Home sales in metro Portland slid 19.8% in April from a year ago as distressed housing continues to dominate the market, DataQuick said. Of the homes sold in the area’s resale market, 40% were classified as distressed, the firm said. DataQuick said 2,274 new and resale homes and condos sold in April in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area, down 1.6% from March, but approaching a 20% decline from a year ago. Year-over-year, home sales have fallen for the past 10 months in Portland, DataQuick said, adding that the median price paid on all homes sold hit $212,000 in April, up 2.4% from March, but down 9.4% from last year. Condo prices in the area are increasingly volatile with the median resale condo price dropping 28.2% below year-ago levels. Last month’s drop in median condo prices represented the fourth consecutive monthly double-digit drop, the report added. “The steeper drop in condo prices helps explain why sales of existing condos rose more than 10% last month from both March and a year earlier, while sales of all other homes fell,” DataQuick said. Write to Kerri Panchuk.