We searched the priciest homes for sale in Portland and found historic and new dwellings at the top of the market.

Then we looked at West Linn, which has been in real estate news lately because Mark Wattles, best known for starting and selling then-successful Hollywood Video stores and buying bankrupt Ultimate Electronics, will auction off his $12 million, still-unfinished estate on Thursday, June 14 without reserve.

In theory, that means someone could walk away with the deed for pennies on the dollar.

Now, it's time to look at Lake Oswego, which has the highest median home prices in Oregon at $834,000. The Portland-area median home price topped $400,000 for the first time in April.

The asking price of homes in Lake Oswego has increased 28.4 percent since April last year, according to Redfin's real estate database. Only 1 out of every 100 houses sells for less than what the owner wants, according to sales data.

Today, there are 123 properties for sale at more than $1 million.

Everyone agrees a million dollars is a dramatic number. And yet, people buy houses that cost that much and more.

There are so many $1 million estates for sale in Lake Oswego, in fact, that we decided to just focus on the ones listed at $3 million and above.

The topper: A $15-million, lakefront mansion at 1500 Northshore Road, which sits on 0.66 acres on Oswego main lake and has every perk, from a massive master suite to private two boat lifts.

-- Janet Eastman



jeastman@oregonian.com

503-799-8739

@janeteastman



