Portland apartments are getting smaller
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If you think Portland's housing market feels a bit cramped, well so are its apartments.
Why it matters: In most American cities, people want more space while they work from home or wait to buy a home, so developers are adding rooms to apartments, according to a recent report from rental listing website RentCafe.
- But in Rose City, and Seattle, apartments are getting smaller — and costlier.
By the numbers: The average new apartment in Portland was 685 square feet in 2023, a decrease of 7.3% over the last decade, per RentCafe.
- Among the 47% of households that rent in the city, the average monthly rent was $1,711 — up from $1,538 in January 2020.
The big picture: The average U.S. apartment built in 2023 measured 916 square feet, a 27-square-foot rebound from the previous year.
- Apartments shrank in 2022 to the smallest on average since at least 2014, according to the RentCafe report.
State of play: More two- and three-bedroom rentals hit the market last year, pushing up the national average size, but one-bedroom floor plans continue to dominate, RentCafe found.
- Two- and three-bedroom apartments "have been adding more floor space in the last decade, while studios and one-bedroom apartments ... have been getting more and more compact," RentCafe's report says.
What we're watching: High interest rates and the rising costs of labor and materials forced developers to pull back on apartment projects throughout the West Coast last year, according to data on construction starts from CoStar, a real estate information company.
- That trend appears to be continuing this year in Portland, as historic underproduction is fueling unaffordability and a steady stream of out-migration.