Data from the Census Bureau reveals it’s harder to find an apartment in Oregon than anywhere else in the country.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Data from the Census Bureau reveals it’s harder to find an apartment in Oregon than anywhere else in the country.
The state’s vacancy rate sits at 3.6 percent, while California has the second-worst at 3.9 percent.
While the West Coast was generally the most difficult place to find an apartment, the Southeast was the easiest. South Carolina (10.5 percent), Alabama (10.4 percent) and Arkansas (9.6 percent) had the three highest vacancy rates in 2014. Mississippi and Florida came in with the sixth- and eighth-highest rates, respectively.
Oregon made a big jump from 2013, when its 4.4 percent vacancy rate was good for fifth in the country. Minnesota, with its 3.9 percent vacancy rate, had the tightest rental market that year.
The numbers likely won’t surprise anybody who has paid attention to Portland’s and Oregon’s rental market in past months. Low vacancies are one part of an equation that also includes skyrocketing rents, population growth, sales of apartment complexes, short-term rentals and a boom in new apartment buildings in an effort to release the pent-up demand.
(READ MORE: OregonLive.com)
Oregon – Portland and Bend, specifically – has a major problem with providing enough homes for its burgeoning population. As of yet, local and state lawmakers have found it difficult to come up with solutions.
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