In a recent conversation with another Realtor here in Lake Oswego the comment was made “aren’t there any houses in Lake Oswego under a million dollars!”. It got me thinking about the fact that it’s been awhile since I did my affordability comparison with Sellwood in SE Portland. It also got me wondering about all the houses in Lake Oswego that are priced at a million dollars or greater. How many are there and are they selling?
I ran these numbers on February 1st and in 5 days time they will of changed, but it will give all of us a snap shot of current inventory and current activity.
There are currently 124 detached houses for sale. Of those, 56 are priced at a million dollars or greater. That means that million dollar properties make up 45% of the current inventory. I wanted to know how many million dollar homes had sold in the last six months. I decided if I was going to do it with the expensive houses I would also do it with the less expensive houses. Below you will find the results of my research:
| Type | Value Range | # Active | # Pending | # Sold/6 Months | # Month’s Inventory |
| Detached | $100,000-$400,000 | 6 | 13 | 52 | 3 weeks |
| $400,001-$600,000 | 21 | 26 | 106 | 5 weeks | |
| $600,001-$800,000 | 28 | 19 | 77 | 2 months | |
| $800,001-$1,000,000 | 14 | 9 | 43 | 2 months | |
| $1,000,001-$1,500,000 | 28 | 13 | 32 | 5 months | |
| $1,500,001-$2,000,000 | 13 | 3 | 16 | 5 months | |
| $2,000,001-$3,000,000 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 5 months | |
| $3,000,001-$5,000,000 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 months | |
| $5,000,001-$20,000,000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | unknown | |
| Attached | All Price Ranges | 6 | 6 | 27 | 5 weeks |
| Condos | All Price Ranges | 3 | 20 | 103 | 1 week |
So the answer to my question is that while there are a lot of million dollar houses, they are selling quite well. The far right column shows you that based upon how many have sold in the last 6 months, how many months it will take to sell what is currently on the market. The less expensive homes are selling in just weeks.
The real shocker in this, to me, is what has happened to the condos. I have never in 28 years of selling real estate seen the condo inventory so low. In my experience there always seems to be a bit of a glut of condos available. Last summer there were many and some complexes had so much inventory that they just languished on the market. So what happened? Many complexes that were involved in litigation and special assessments have put that behind them and are now more stable and more financially healthy. The foreclosures and shortsales are pretty much gone (there may be a few hold outs yet to appear), but mostly I think it’s because first time home buyers are back in the game. The millenials have had a hard time getting established in good jobs, but it is happening and they are buying homes. If you own a condo in Lake Oswego, it is likely going up in value.
Lake Oswego vs Sellwood
I started doing this comparison between LO and Sellwood (a neighborhood in SE Portland) because I have long felt that thinking of Lake Oswego as a strictly rich community is unfair. I think there are a fairly broad range of households and that you can find affordable housing in Lake Oswego. I used Sellwood for the comparison because it is where I moved from when I came to Lake Oswego 18 years ago. I used to do this comparison about once a year, but I don’t think I’ve done it for quite a long time. So hear it is. My definition is based upon a detached home that is priced at $400,000 or less. In Lake Oswego there are currently 6. In Sellwood there is currently 1. So it continues to hold true that there are more “affordable” houses in Lake Oswego than there are in Sellwood. This has been the case every time I have done this exercise. But the take away is “only 6”?! and “only 1”?! Our property values have gone up so much that I’m not sure I can use the $400,000 price cap any more, in either area.
Most expensive and least expensive
The last part of this review is that I want to give you an idea of the least and most expensive detached house value in Lake Oswego. The least expensive house is offered at $320,000. It was built in 1964 and has 3 bedrooms and 1 bath, and 924 square feet. It’s on a .24 acre lot, needs a lot of updating, and is on a septic system. The most expensive house is offered at $15,000,000. It was built in 2006. It has 5 bedrooms, 6 full baths and 3 half baths. It has an elevator, a media room, a game room, a workout room, and more. It has 13,462 square feet. It sits on .66 of an acre that happens to be lake front along the North shore. It has also been on and off of the market for the past 4 years.
I hope you found this both interesting and helpful. Feel free to call if you have any questions. Linda, Whitney and I are always here to help.
Dianne