for rent denver
A home for rent southeast of downtown Denver.
(The Associated Press)
Rents continued to rise across the Portland area during the last year as available apartments were increasingly elusive to would-be renters, but some areas that have seen intense development showed some relief.
Area rents increased by about 6 percent over the last year, from $1.17 to $1.24 a square foot, according to a survey of apartment owners and managers by rental industry trade association Multifamily NW.
That brought the average rent to $944 for the average one-bedroom, one bathroom apartment.
And apartments were harder to find. Apartment vacancy fell to 3.1 percent -- half a percentage point lower than the last survey, conducted six months ago.
But there might be signs of some relief for renters.
The last six months brought much slower rent growth than the six months prior. That might be the effect of more than 6,000 new apartments coming to the market in 2014.
Northwest Portland, which has seen rapid apartment development in recent years, actually saw average rents fall over the six-month period, as did Beaverton, Southwest Portland and Lake Oswego.
Landlords largely reported seeing their costs rise. Expenses like taxes, utilities and insurance increased 7.18 percent from 2013 to 2014.
One thing landlords are spending less on: marketing. Most apartments are vacant between tenants for less than 38 days, and in central Portland, the average apartment is vacant for only 9 days.
-- Elliot Njus
enjus@oregonian.com
503-294-5034
@enjus