The “B” word gets tossed around a lot when it comes to apartment construction.
Bubble.
It’s easy to understand the jitters. Portland has the nation’s tightest rental market with a vacancy rate of about 3.7 percent.
No other real estate sector is faring so well, so understandably, developers are constructing apartments to answer the demand. There were more than 6,700 units in the development pipeline this spring and the number is climbing as new projects surface. Just this week Everett Custom Homes submitted plans for a 50-unit apartment and retail project at Northeast Fremont and 44th Avenue.
Will the bubble burst? Is there actually a bubble?
Probably not, or at least, not yet.
In this week’s Portland Business Journal, Jerry Johnson and multifamily market watchers take on the question.
