Census: Portland/Vancouver Vacancy Rate Falls to Nation's Fourth Lowest

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the rental vacancy rate for the Portland-Vancouver- Hillsboro metro area was 3.1% for the fourth quarter of 2016 - the nation's fourth lowest. Greater Portland's vacancy rates were pegged at 6.6% in Q1, 4.9% in Q2, and 5.6% in Q3.

Seattle Vacancies Nation's 7th Lowest
Census estimated Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue's vacancy rate at 3.4% up from 2.7% in Q3.

Metro areas with lower vacancies than Seattle were San Diego (3.2%), Minneapolis-St- Paul (3.2%), Portland (3.1%) San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (3.0%), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (2.4%) and Worcester, Mass. (0.7%).

Average National Rental Vacancy Rate
The average national rental vacancy rate for Q4 2016 was 6.9 percent for multifamily dwellings of five or more units, roughly even with a year earlier. Vacancy rates remained lowest in the western U.S.

U.S. Median Rents
U.S. median asking price for rent was $864,

Greater Portland Rents
The national apartment research firm Reis reports that Portland metro rents increased 7.4% for 2016. The research firm Axiometrics reported a lower number, estimating that the year-over-year increase was 6.2%.

U.S. Homeownership Rate Rebounds SlightlyQ4 U.S. Homeownership rates rebounded slightly to 63.7% after hitting bottom at 62.9% in Q2 of last year -- its lowest level in 26 years. Homeownership remains lowest in the Western U.S. where the rate remained flat at 59%.