Minor Relief for Portland Apartment Renters
A surge in new apartment construction has finally brought a little relief for Portland-area renters, a new survey of metro area landlords suggests.
Apartment vacancy has climbed only slightly in the six months since apartment industry association Multifamily Northwest‘s last survey. The group found this month that 3.66 percent of apartments were empty during the fall survey period, up from 3.45 percent in April.
And while rents increased 5 percent on average in that six-month period, the hikes can mostly be attributed to brand-new units included in the survey for the first time.
Existing apartments saw slower rent growth as landlords faced growing competition from those newly constructed units.
The average rent across the metro area has risen to $1.22 a square foot. On average, two-bedroom apartments rent for $885 a month, one-bedroom apartments for $938, and studio apartments rent for $908. (Studio and one-bedrooms tend to be located closer to downtown, where rents are higher, and newer apartment buildings include more of them.) Read More – Oregonlive.com>
