Portland rents have increased 0.4% over the past month, but are down slightly by 0.3% in comparison to the same time last year, according to a new report from Apartment List.
Currently, median rents in Portland stand at $1,120 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,330 for a two-bedroom.
Second straight month of increases in Portland rents
This is the second straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in December of last year. Portland’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of -1.3%, but trails the national average of 0.9%.
Rents rising across cities in the Portland Metro
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 9 of the largest 10 cities in the Portland metro for which Apartment List has data. Oregon as a whole logged rent growth of -1.3% over the past year.
Here’s a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
- Hillsboro is the most expensive of all Portland metro’s major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $2,030; of the 10 largest Oregon metro cities that the company has data for, 9 have seen rents rise year-over-year, with Springfield experiencing the fastest growth (+2.7%).
- Beaverton, Vancouver, and Eugene have all experienced year-over-year growth above the state average (2.0%, 1.7%, and 1.3%, respectively).
Portland rents more affordable than many similar cities nationwide
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 $1,330 is above the national average of $1,170. Nationwide, rents have grown by 0.9% over the past year compared to the 0.3% decline in Portland.
While rents in Portland fell slightly over the past year, many cities nationwide saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.6%), Austin (+3.1%), and Las Vegas (+3.1%).
Renters will find more reasonable prices in Portland than most similar cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $3,100, which is more than twice the price in Portland.
Methodology
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew towards luxury apartments, introducing sample bias. In order to address these limitations and provide the most accurate rent estimates available, we now start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate forward based on our own rental listing data, using a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, which compares only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Apartment List
Apartment List is a growing online apartment rental marketplace on a mission to make finding a home an easy and delightful process.
