Portland-Vancouver, Oregon-Washington The recession has significantly affected the economy of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Nonagricultural employment averaged 953,750 jobs for the 12 months ending June 2002, down 1.7 percent compared with the same period in 2001. Employment losses in high-technology industries accounted for 50 percent of the loss in the manufacturing sector during the period. The Portland metropolitan area’s emergence during the past 10 years as one of the Nation’s high-technology centers has made it susceptible to changes in demand in the semiconductor industry. Employment data for the second quarter of 2002 indicate that high-technology firms began hiring for the first time since July 2001, suggesting that the recent upward trend in orders for chip makers may be signaling the end of 12 straight months of downsizing. Employment in the nonmanufacturing sector has fallen by nearly 10 percent since June 2001. The unemployment rate averaged 7.2 percent for the 12-month period ending June 2002, up from 4.1 percent for the year ending June 2001. Weaker economic factors have caused a decline in the Portland area’s rate of population growth. According to the Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000 the population of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area increased at a rate of 2.4 percent annually to 1,918,009 persons, or approximately 40,000 persons per year. The most recent estimate by the Census Bureau published on July 1, 2001, reports the area’s population to be 1,956,475, a 1.6-percent increase annually. The median value of homes in the Portland-Vancouver area increased 9 percent a year between 1990 and 2000 to $172,800, according to the Census Bureau, and the rate of homeownership increased 62 percent over the decade. The slower economy has dulled the existing sales market considerably. A total of 15,867 new and existing homes sold through the first 6 months of 2002, a 1.6-percent increase from the same period in 2001 compared with a 10.6-percent increase between the first half of 2000 and the first half of 2001. The median sales price in the first half of 2002 was $171,750, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier. Despite the relatively high median sales price, new, single-family, detached starter homes are available for as low as $120,000 in Vancouver to the north and $130,000 in Beaverton and Hillsboro to the west. The Portland area condominium market has been relatively stable in the past 24 months. Sales in the 12 months ending in June 2002 totaled 1,000 units compared with 930 for the same period 12 months earlier. The median price of condominiums sold in the past 12 months was $129,400, up 2.7 percent from a year ago. Newly constructed condominiums available in Portland area suburbs ranged in price from $130,000 to $340,000. Single-family building permit activity through June 2002 totaled 5,608 homes, down 3 percent from the same period in 2001. To create more areas for development, Portland’s Metro Regional government is likely to implement a proposed 17,300-acre expansion of the region’s urban growth boundary, most of which will be located to the east and southeast of the metropolitan area in the Gresham, Oregon City, and Damascus communities. In response to a weak economy, slower population growth, and steady apartment construction, the Portland area’s rental market became more competitive over the past year. The apartment rental vacancy rate for the area was 7 percent, as estimated by reports by McGregor Millette for spring/summer 2002. Concessions are becoming more common as the market softens, especially in the southern portion of the metropolitan area, where the apartment vacancy rate, as of the second quarter, exceeded 9 percent. Rents have risen less than 3 percent in the past 12 months, averaging $703 for all unit types to the spring/summer 2002 McGregor Millette report. Multifamily building permit activity for the first 6 months of the year increased 60 percent to 2,213 units solely because of several large, tax-credit rental projects. Apartment construction is expected to continue to slow down in the second half of 2002.

Previous Profile	Next Profile

Home | Table of Contents | Summary | National Data
Regional Activity | Historical Data | Subscription Form