The Gardener Report Shows A Rising Tide

As a Windermere broker, I look forward each quarter to the release of the Gardner report so that I can keep a careful eye on regional trends for the housing market and the economy at large.  Matthew Gardner is a renowned land use economist and is considered one of the foremost real estate analysts in the Pacific Northwest.

While the full content of the report for Q1 2013 can be found here:

http://www.windermere.com/blogs/windermere/posts/the-gardner-report-western-washington-first-quarter-2013-volume-xxi

I found these notes to be the most intriguing:

1. Oregon's employment gains of 1.5% over the past year matched the average for the US.
2. Washington County's employment gains of 1.3% over the past year was equal to Multnomah County's.
3. Washington County's unemployment rate is now 7.1%, while Multnomah County's is 7.8%.
4. The net non-agricultural employment gain over the past year for Washington County was 3100 jobs.
5. YTD closed sales of exisiting residential units is up 3% in Washington County and 11% in Mulnomah County.
6. Washington County homes registered a 16.1% year over year price increase, to an average of $295,000.

Great stuff – The market is on the move!