While there were fewer active and new listings on the market, sales activity in Metro Portland showed an improvement in closed sales in February 2011. Closed sales this month were above levels from both last February and the month prior, January 2011. Also notable in February was a slight decrease in inventory, down from 11.3 last month and the lowest of the previous two Februarys. Closed sales were up 5.8%in February 2011 compared to February 2010. Pending sales were down 13.9%, and new listings dropped 26.1%. Comparing the previous month of January 2011 with February 2011, closed sales grew from 1,035 to 1,074 (3.8%). Pending sales alsoincreased from 1,489 to 1,592 (6.9%). New listings dropped from 3,128 to 2,883 (-7.8%). At the month’s rate of sales, the 11,746 active residential listings would last about 10.9 months. Sale Prices Average sale price for February 2011 declined 10.5% compared to February 2010. Median sale price also fell 9.1%. Month to month, comparing January 2011 to February 2011, average sale price went down from $248,900 to $244,500 (-1.8%) while median sale price slightly decreased from $215,000 to $213,700 (-0.6%). Year-to-Date Comparing January-February 2011 with the same period in 2010 shows closed sales increased 5.4%. Pending sales were down 8.3%, and new listings decreased by 23.6%. A comparison of year-to-date totals between 2011 and 2010 shows average sale price dropped 10.7% and median sale price went down 8.9%. Learn more