Sold! 9 Units in Milwaukie - $1.077 Million

HFO is pleased to announce the sale of the Shawn Oaks Apartments in Milwaukie, Oregon. This 9-unit property offered investors a well-located, quality asset with immediate upside potential.

U.S. Census Bureau Q1 2016 Homeownership and Vacancy Report Released

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the rental vacancy rate for the Portland-Vancouver- Hillsboro metro area was 6.6% for the first quarter of 2016, up from 2.4% three months earlier.

The estimate is a sharp jump in the estimated vacancy rate for Portland, which for every survey over the past two years has ranked consistently among the nation's lowest.

The MultifamilyNW fall 2016 survey of 56,000 Portland MSA units was also released this week, and pegged the vacancy rate at 3.5%.

Census reported Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue with a vacancy rate of 4.4%, up from 3.9% in the prior quarter.

The average national rental vacancy rate for Q1 2016 was 7.0 percent for multifamily dwellings of five or more units, unchanged from the prior quarter. The U.S. rental vacancy rate has been falling since 2009 and is currently hovering at its lowest level since 1993.

Although MPF research reports rent growth in the Portland MSA continues to lead the nation at 11.8% for Q1 2016, average rents increased to $870 - up from $850 the prior quarter.

Homeownership rates have increased somewhat over a year ago. It was reported at the MultifamilyNW Breakfast that some luxury apartments in downtown Portland are starting to see leases broken as renters move to purchase homes.

MPF Research: Portland Dominates Q1 2016 Rent Growth [Video]

MPF Research reports that Portland dominated the last half of the year for rent growth in 2015 and continues to do so for Q1 2016 with rent growth of 11.8%.

Spring 2016 Apartment Survey Results for Portland Metro fromMultifamilyNW

At its bi-annual Apartment Report breakfast, MultifamilyNW reported the following changes to rental vacancy rates and rent per square foot in these specific neighborhoods.

An Informed Discussion on Solutions for Portland's Affordable Housing Crisis

HFO Partner Greg Frick discusses realistic solutions to Portland's affordable housing crisis with Gwenn Baldwin, lobbyist for MultifamilyNW.

Breaking -- MultifamilyNW Reports Portland Metro Vacancies Increase Slightly to 3.52%

MultifamilyNW just announced at its bi-annual Apartment Report breakfast this morning that apartment vacancies in the Portland/Vancouver metro area currently stands at 3.52%. Clackamas area has the lowest vacancy at 1.6% and represents an area with very little new construction activity. The only other area under 2% is East Vancouver.

Rents:
Overall rents in the Metro area have increased 13% year-over-year but new supply has caused rent increases to slow to 5.3% since the last report six months ago.

Expenses
The report indicates that average operating expenses for all unit types have increased 6.3% year-over-year as landlords continue to see significant increases in property taxes and water/sewer expenses.

Transaction Activity
Transaction activity slowed 25% in the first quarter of 2016 and the median price per unit during the first quarter was $92,422 with an average Cap rate of 6.14%.

Watch this space for additional details.

Milwaukie Joins Portland in Requiring 90-Day Notice for No Cause Evictions

Last week, the City of Milwaukie became the first suburb outside of Portland to require a 90-day notice for no-cause evictions. The ordinance was adopted as an emergency measure and became effective immediately. 

Sold! 272 Luxury Units in Eugene, Oregon | $43 Million

HFO Investment Real Estate (HFO) has sold the 272-unit Riverwalk Apartments in Eugene, Oregon for $43,100,000.

Riverwalk is a luxury lifestyle asset with resort-style suburban amenities which was developed by BPM Real Estate Group, of Portland, Oregon.

Completed in 2015 and fully leased up in 2016, the property is one of the very few newly built apartment properties in Eugene. Riverwalk offers unique amenities, and an urban setting combined with immediate access to 150-acre Delta Ponds City Park. The apartments are close to a bike connector leading to the 12-mile bike path along the Willamette River.

The sale represented a price per unit of $158,456 | $205.21 per square foot. The seller was Alexander Loop LLC of Portland, Oregon, that was owned by a partnership managed by Walter C. Bowen. The buyer was Green Leaf Riverwalk of Danville, California.

“Riverwalk is a spectacular asset in the growing city of Eugene, Oregon’s newest technology hub,” said HFO partner Cody Hagerman. “It offers an investor the opportunity for long-term, stable growth as the Eugene/Springfield area continues to grow as a magnet for medical and technology companies.”

Utilizing its national market reach, HFO garnered significant interest in the asset from investors across the country, particularly in California, Arizona, Utah and Illinois.

Sold! 20 Units in Newberg, Oregon

HFO is pleased to announce the sale of the Boston Square Apartments in Newberg, Oregon.

In this case, the investor was looking to exchange up to a property closer in to the Portland core. HFO was selected on the strength of its marketing platform and commitment to help locate an exchange up-leg.

HFO priced the property aggressively - especially for a tertiary market - and was able to deliver on those pricing expectations with several offers. Two extensions were built into the closing timeline in order to give the seller more time to find a 1031 exchange, and she was ultimately able to put an exchange property under contract before the closing date.

Boston Square sold for $1.625 million.

Sold! 17 Units in Corvallis, 12 Units in Beaverton

12 Units in Beaverton

HFO is pleased to announce two recent transactions in Corvallis and Beaverton.

HFO represented both parties in the sale of a multifamily property located at 5195 SW Lombard in Beaverton. The property sold for $1.43 million.

17 Units in Corvallis

HFO represented the buyer of The Trees Apartments, a 17-unit asset in Corvallis, which sold for $2 million.

Build Your Legacy via multifamily investment properties with the advice and assistance of HFO's team of experts. Learn more at www.hfore.com.

Crisis: Vancouver City Council Declares Housing Emergency

Last week the Vancouver City Council declared a housing emergency. Yesterday, The Oregonian reported that Vancouver's vacancy is less than two percent. Additionally, apartment rents have risen more than 38 percent over the last five years.

The emergency declaration is a legal mechanism that allows the council to put a ballot proposition before voters this year. Washington state law requires voting before imposing levies for affordable housing. The measure would ask taxpayers to approve a property tax levy for housing that would fund low-income households. Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt says there is political will to get something on the ballot this November despite the measure not having firm details yet.

Additionally, Leavitt called out neighboring communities in Clark County, "Trying to find another place in Vancouver is a real ordeal...The other places in Clark County really have not, frankly, fully embraced a need to have a diversity of housing, including multifamily." Read more.

*Follow Northwest Apartment Investor for updates on Vancouver and Portland's housing emergencies and other multifamily breaking news from the Pacific Northwest. Sign up for new posts by entering your email in the top right corner on this page and/or download HFO's app to access blog posts, additional articles & research, HFO's listings & closings, and company contact information. Build Your Legacy with HFO. www.hfore.com 

Zumper National Rent Report: April 2016

Full report.

In Seattle - Condo Demand Rises Faster Than Supply

With 1,099 condos recently added or on the way to market, you'd think Seattle would be all set. Apparently not, as not many remain available -- even in one project not slated to open until Summer of 2017. Read more.

Sacramento Leaps Over Portland In Rent Growth - Axiometrics

After resting at No. 2 for the previous two months, Sacramento ended the seven-month reign of Portland, OR with 11.6% rent growth in March. Though Portland fell to second place, its 10.1% effective rent growth marked the 12th straight month the market recorded a double-digit rate. Read more. 

How Do You Quantify Portland's Affordable Housing Challenge?

An article in this month's Southeast Examiner articulates well many of the issues behind Portland's Affordable Housing Challenge. Although a solution doesn't yet seem apparent, it's important to understand the depth of the problem before finding a way to move ahead with affordable housing solutions.

Multifamily NW has several ideas about ways to reach a solution to the problem, as do local economists. We'll be exploring those ideas more fully in the months ahead on HFO-TV and here on our blog.

For now, the Southeast Examiner article makes many important points, including these:

• "Portland needs 31,665 affordable units for those in the 0-30 percent range of median family income, but there are only 8,370 units, leaving a lack of 23,295 units. In the 51- 80 percent range of median family income, there is an excess of 23,565 units over the need. For a family of four, 30 percent of the median family income would be less than $24,250.
• "When the Section 8 voucher ten day application period opened in 2013, there were 21,000 applicants within two weeks for 3,000 chances to be chosen. Due to the Federal budget sequestration, all of these people were denied a voucher."

Read the full article.