Data: Census Bureau; Note: Only includes vacant housing units for sale; Chart: Axios Visuals
There aren't a lot of empty homes in the Portland metro area.
Home vacancies here have reached near all-time lows since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest census data.
Why it matters: The percentage of vacant homes is one way to gauge the tightness of the housing market, Axios' Matt Phillips writes.
And with housing production basically flatlining, Portland's market is extremely tight.
By the numbers: Portland homeowner vacancies in the last two quarters of 2023 reached 1%.
In the first quarter of 2021, however, vacancies were at just 0.2%, the lowest on record since 2005.
Zoom in: Gov. Tina Kotek's $500 million housing proposal was slashed to $350 million by legislators last week — meaning there may be less money for shovel-ready projects, grants for developers, and office-to-apartment conversions aimed at addressing the state's affordable housing crisis.
Yes, but: A legislative analysis in 2022 found Oregon needs to build 555,000 more housing units to meet growing demand in the next two decades.