Portland Rents Declined Significantly Over the Past Month

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Portland rents

The January 2019 Portland rents report shows Portland rents have declined 0.5% over the past month, and are down slightly by 0.2% in comparison to the same time last year, according to Apartment List.

Currently, median rents in Portland stand at $1,120 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,320 for a two-bedroom. This is the third straight month that the city has seen rent decreases after an increase in September, according to Apartment List.

Portland’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of -1.9%, but trails the national average of 0.9%.

Rents rising across cities in the Portland Metro

Portland rents

While rent decreases have been occurring in the city of Portland over the past year, cities in the rest of the metro are seeing the opposite trend. Rents have risen in 8 of the largest 10 cities in the Portland metro for which we have data. Oregon as a whole logged rent growth of -1.9% over the past year. Here’s a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.

  • Looking throughout the metro, Hillsboro is the most expensive of all Portland metro’s major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $2,000; of the 10 largest cities in the metro that we have data for, Gresham, where a two-bedroom goes for $1,630, is the only other major city besides Portland to see rents fall year-over-year (-0.5%).
  • Beaverton, Springfield, and Vancouver have all experienced year-over-year growth above the state average (2.4%, 2.2%, and 1.7%, respectively).

Portland rents more affordable than many similar cities nationwide

Portland rents

As rents have fallen slightly in Portland, many comparable cities nationwide have seen prices increase, in some cases substantially. Portland is also more affordable than most other large cities across the country.

  • Portland’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,320 is above the national average of $1,180. Nationwide, rents have grown by 0.9% over the past year compared to the 0.2% decline in Portland.
  • While rents in Portland fell slightly over the past year, many cities nationwide saw increases, including Las Vegas (+4.4%), Austin (+3.4%), and Phoenix (+3.3%).
  • Renters will find more reasonable prices in Portland than most comparable cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $3,090, which is more than twice the price in Portland.

Methodology:

Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.