Update: The Latest on Pending Tenant Legislation in Salem

In Oregon, the House has approved HB 4143 banning rent increases during a month-to-month tenant's first year and requires 90-day warnings on rent increases thereafter. Read the latest on these and other related measures here:

Oregonian/Oregon Live: "House approves renter relief measures as clock ticks on wider housing deal"

Portland Tribune: "Housing legislation, tenant protections gain momentum in Salem"

From Own to Rent: Who Lost the American Dream? - Trulia

The financial crisis in 2008 created the biggest disruption in the U.S. housing market since the Great Depression. According to Trulia in a recent report, there has been a five percentage-point increase in the number of renters to owners to 43.3% from 38.5% from the top of the housing bubble approximately 10 years ago. Who are the renters? Which markets are experiencing the greatest impacts?

Read more.

Sellwood Bridge Is Closed for Good

Constructed in 1925, the (old) Sellwood Bridge was closed by officials 91 years later after a goodbye ceremony on Thursday.

The new bridge will be opened to traffic the first week of March and the community is invited to a free, family-friendly ribbon cutting ceremony this Saturday, February 27th at noon. Read more.

Conceptual rendering of the new Sellwood Bridge and  Image Source 

Who's Moving to Oregon? Mostly Those Ages 25-35

Net migration into Oregon in is now effectively as large as during the housing boom years, at around 40,000 net new migrants per year.

Oregon sees a net influx of residents across all age groups. However, a disproportionate number are in their root-setting years; that important decade from mid-20s to mid-30s when most people settle down, begin their careers in earnest, get married, buy a house and have kids. Read more from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

Update On Legislative Bills Related to Rentals

The Oregonian offered up some informative coverage on changes to House Bill 4143 and Senate Bill 1533 this past week. Democrats in the house have agreed to wait until 2017 to extend notice periods for no-cause lease terminations. Moving forward, HB 4143 would ban rent increases in the first year of a month-to-month tenancy and require 90-day notices for rent increases after the first year. Meanwhile, SB 1533, overturning the state ban on inclusionary zoning, would be altered to say that "workforce housing" constructed for people who make 80 percent or less of median income would meet the mandatory inclusionary zoning requirement. Read more about these developments in The Oregonian's coverage.

Multi-Housing News Online Infographic: A Perfect Storm of Multifamily Demand

What's behind the demand for multifamily housing? Multi-Housing News provided this infographic with the answers:

Ted Wheeler Wants New Rules to Better Protect Renters from Evictions - The Oregonian

Portland mayoral candidate Ted Wheeler on Thursday said he wants to create new rules to better protect renters from evictions. If elected, Wheeler wants to establish criteria dictating how and when some landlords evict tenants.

Read more...

Sold! 198-Units in Vancouver, WA for $35.2 Million

HFO is pleased to announce the sale of the Meadows at Cascade Park. At $177 per-square-foot ($178,030 per unit), the sale establishes one of the highest per-square-foot prices in Vancouver in the past 12 months.

"Renter demand for apartments outside of the urban core continues to drive vacancies lower, and rents higher, in markets like Vancouver and Gresham — and investors have clearly taken notice,” said HFO partner Tyler Johnson.

The seller was a Canadian investment firm with several properties in the metro region. The buyer was a California-based who currently owns approximately 3,000 units in the Pacific Northwest.

HFO is thankful to both parties for giving us the opportunity to make this a successful transaction.

Strong Rent Growth Continues in Seattle Despite New Supply

MPF research provides an update on the Seattle market's stellar performance despite the ongoing addition of new units to the market.

Goodman Family Looks to Launch 11 Buildings - $1.5 Billion in Development in Downtown Portland

The Goodman Family, owners of a number of land parcels in downtown Portland that are currently surface parking lots, has unveiled its Ankeny Blocks plan. The plan envisions development of 11 major buildings downtown, including six high-rises and five mid-rises to house office workers, residents, retail and a grocer. Read more.

City of Portland Wants Inclusionary Zoning, Economist Says It Won't Help

The Portland Tribune reports that City of Portland officials and affordable housing advocates are mounting a push to get the Legislature to allow inclusionary zoning. But Joe Cortright, a Portland economist says inclusionary zoning will only drive up housing prices and shift development outside of Portland--increasing urban sprawl. Read more. 

Burnside Has a Bold New Back Yard

The Yard is a new 21-story building with 16-floors of apartments atop 5 stories of retail and work spaces. The tower, located at NE 2nd and Burnside, is a parallelogram with a wedge shape that appears narrow. Yard contains parking for 200 cars and 450 bicycles. The tower will have 284 apartments, including 57 units classified as affordable. Yard apparently has 10% fewer windows than originally approved, which has resulted in some controversy. Word is that Yard will open in 2016.

A second project known as the Dumbell because of its two six-story cubes joined by a connecting sky-bridge is also currently under construction.

A third project, a new building called Framework, will be a ten-story modular building resembling shipping containers placed together like a pile of blocks.

Read more in this month's edition of The Southeast Examiner.

44-Units of Affordable-Housing for Seniors and the Disabled Opens in Gresham

With financing and donations from U.S. Bank, Station 162 will be Oregon’s first independent lifestyle apartments for seniors and the disabled, including quadriplegics, in suburban Gresham and will be a national model for lower-cost, self-directed living. See more.

Census: Portland Ends 2015 With Lowest U.S. Vacancy Rate

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the rental vacancy rate for the Portland-Vancouver- Hillsboro metro area was 2.4 percent for the fourth quarter of 2015, the nation's lowest.

In every survey over the past two years, Portland metro has ranked consistently among the nation's lowest vacancy rates.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue had the 8th lowest vacancy rate at 3.9%.

The nation's lowest vacancy rates were as follows:

• Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA 2.4% (TIE)
• Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ  - 2.4% (TIE)
• San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA - 2.5%
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA - 2.7%
• Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY - 3.0%
• Austin-Round Rock, TX - 3.4% (TIE)
• Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA - 3.4% (TIE)
• Richmond, VA - 3.4% (TIE)
• San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA - 3.5%
• Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN - 3.7% (TIE)
• Providence-Warwick, RI-MA - 3.7% (TIE)
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA - 3.9%
• Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH - 4.0%
• Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagra FAlls, NY - 4.2% (TIE)
• Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 4.2% (TIE)

The average national rental vacancy rate for Q4 2015 was 7.0 percent for multifamily dwellings of five or more units, and was 0.4 percent lower than Q4 2014. The U.S. rental vacancy rate has been falling since 2009. It is hovering at its lowest level since 1993 and far below the 11 percent average vacancy rate of 2009.

Although rent growth in the West and specifically Portland metro lead the nation, average rents increased to $850.