Census Report: Q2 Portland's Apartment Vacancy Rate Ranked Nation's 10th Lowest

The U.S. Census Bureau reported today that the rental vacancy rate for the Portland-Vancouver- Hillsboro metro area was 3.5 percent for the second quarter of 2015, up slightly from 2.7 percent for the first quarter.

For the past two years, Portland metro has ranked consistently among the nation's lowest vacancy rates and currently ranks at 10th lowest.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue ranked 13th with Q2 vacancies tightening to 4.0 percent, down 1.0 percent from the prior quarter.

The nation's 10 lowest vacancy rates were as follows:

• Worcester, MA - 1.4%
• Cape Coral-Ft Myers, FL - 2.2%
• San Diego/Carlsbad, CA - 2.3%
• Providence-Warwick, RI-MA - 2.4%
• Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI - 2.5%
• Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH - 2.6%
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA - 3.0%
• Raleigh, NC - 3.1%
• Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ -3.4%
• Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR/WA - 3.5%

The average national rental vacancy rate for Q2 2015 was 6.8 percent for multifamily dwellings of five or more units, and was 0.7 percent lower than a year earlier. The U.S. rental vacancy rate has been falling since 2009. It is at its lowest level since 1993 and far below the 11 percent average vacancy rate of 2009.

U.S. Median Asking Rents: Click to enlarge

U.S. Rental Vacancy Rates by Region: Click to enlarge

U.S. Homeownership Rate Still Falling
U.S. Homeownership rates have fallen from at recent high of 65.1 percent at the end of 2013 to an estimated 63.5 percent in Q2 2015, the lowest level in 22 years.

Homeownership rates in the Western U.S. remained flat at 58.5 percent, the lowest level in 24 years.

Q2 2015 Homeownership Rates by Region: Click to enlarge

Q2 2015 Homeownership Rates 1995-2015: Click to enlarge

[Note: The US Census vacancy estimate is 0.39% higher than the vacancy rate of 3.09% reported by MultifamilyNW in its Spring, 2015 Apartment Report.]