May brought sunny numbers to real estate activity in the Portland metro area. There were 2,969 closed sales, a 5.9% increase over May 2018 (2,803) and a 23.2% increase over April 2019 (2,409). This was the strongest May for closings in the area since 2006, when 3,054 were recorded.

Pending sales (3,292) rose 2.8% from May 2018 (3,201) and 6.1% from April 2019 (3,102).

There were 4,902 new listings offered, a 5.1% increase from May 2018 (4,665) and a 16.4% increase from April 2019 (4,210). This was the strongest May for new listings since 2008, when 5,182 were offered.

Inventory decreased slightly to 2.1 months in May, with total market time decreasing to 48 days in the same period.

Activity is mixed so far in 2019 compared with 2018. New listings (18,257) are up 4.3%, while pending sales (13,011) are down 2.6% and closed sales (10,986) are down 4.4%.

Average and Median Sale Prices

Comparing 2019 to 2018 through May, the average sale price has increased 0.9% from $448,600 to $452,700. In the same comparison, the median sale price has increased 0.7% from $399,500 to $402,400.