The data is ‘in’. In 2013, about 15% of the property that sold in the greater Portland metro area was classified as distressed, which means either short sales or bank owned REO properties.

Read the full report here.  What does this mean?

Buyers:  For buyers, this means the window of opportunity to purchase a short sale or bank owned property is narrowing. Comparing 2012 to 2013, distressed sales as a percentage of closed sales decreased from 28.6% to 15.1%.Whether or not short sales are a good investment is very subjective. REO properties are, in my opion, a good choice. Both take time and patience.
2. Sellers:  Buyers are tired of waiting for banks to act on their offers to purchase short sale properties. While inventory may not be plentiful, the short sale market remains the definition of distressed, and when considering time, money and opportunity, the distresseed market may not be the best option for qualified buyers. Sellers who are trying to salvage their credit by selling short need to get positioned in the market with agents who can get the job done for them. This is strictly a numbers deal, and sellers should be prepared to be as helpful as possible in pricing, staging and providing information to the lenders.Short sales comprised 6.4% of new listings and 8.0% of sold listings in 2013, down 5.7% and 4.3% from 2012 respectively as a percentage of the market.
• Bank owned/REO properties comprised 3.3% of new listings and 5.2% of sales in 2013, decreasing from 10.4% and 15.9% respectively in 2012.
3. Investors:  The distressed property market is a good entry into real estate investment. Understand the value of location and get prepared to upgrade condition of the property. There is opportunity at every price level. With proper negotiation and patience, a short sale can provide a great entre to an area that will pay you back on your investment. Use the conventional buyer’s constraints on financing and time to your advantage.