If I had to sum up the Portland metro area housing market in 2025 in one sentence, it would be this:
Nothing dramatic happened.
That probably sounds underwhelming, especially in a world that thrives on extreme headlines. But if you’ve been following along here all year, it shouldn’t be surprising. We’ve talked repeatedly about how this market is no longer about boom or bust — it’s about re-learning how a normal housing market behaves.
And 2025 looked a lot like that. Prices: Flat, Boring, and Healthy.
Let’s start with the number everyone asks about first: prices.
For the full year 2025, the average sale price in the Portland metro ended up +0.6% year-over-year, increasing from $608,600 to $612,100. The median sale price was up about +1.1%, from $543,000 to $549,000. In real terms, that means prices basically moved sideways. No crash. No surge. Just slow, sticky stability.
That lines up perfectly with what we’ve been saying all year. The market has been digesting the rate shock from 2022–2023, not collapsing under it.
Inventory spent most of 2025 hovering in the 3 to 4 month range. That’s higher than the frenzy years, but still well short of what anyone would call an oversupplied market. However, with many home sellers accepting less than their original list price, the market is acting like it has an oversupply.
We’ve talked a lot about this on the blog: this is a choice-rich market, but not a distressed one. Buyers finally have options again. Sellers finally have to compete again. That’s not a crash — that’s a functioning market. Activity: Quiet, But Consistent
Total sales volume for the year was modestly higher than 2024, with closed sales up about 1.4% to 22,023 in 2025. New listings were also up 2.5%, coming in at 30,316.
In other words: people are still moving. They’re just more selective, more patient, and more rate-sensitive than they were during the super-low-interest-rate era.
One of the healthiest signals this year was the return of normal marketing time. The average home now takes around 60–80 days from list to accepted offer, depending on the season and segment.
That means:
- Pricing strategy matters again
- Condition matters again
- Negotiation matters again
And that’s good for everyone. Segmentation: There Is No “Portland Market”
One theme we’ve hammered all year is that there is no single Portland market anymore.
Some sub-$600k segments still move quickly. Some luxury segments are soft. Condos remain sluggish. Certain suburbs are stronger than others. The data makes that very clear.
Which is why broad headlines like “Portland Prices Are Falling” or “Portland Is Heating Up Again” are mostly useless.
Every move in 2026 will be hyper-local and hyper-specific.
Even with flat prices, affordability remains tight because rates stayed elevated. According to the affordability index, a median-income household can technically still afford a median-priced home — but only under fairly ideal assumptions.
This is why we kept coming back to the same message all year: People can't buy what they can't afford, and the Portland metro area has become too unaffordable for the average Portlander.
The constraint in this market isn’t inventory. It’s payments.
2025 wasn’t exciting.
It was constructive.
We saw:
- Prices stabilize
- Inventory normalize
- Buyers regain leverage
- Sellers relearn competition
- And the market move back toward fundamentals
This is exactly what long-term healthy housing markets do after a shock.
Looking Into 2026
If rates drift lower, we’ll probably see a slight increase in activity but not a boom. If they don’t, we’ll still see movement — just slower and more selective.
Either way, the era of chaos is behind us.
We’re back in a market where strategy beats speed, and pricing beats hope.
And honestly?
That’s a much better market to make real decisions in.
David Caldwell
Principal Real Estate Broker
