Portland Multifamily Report – October 2026
Asking rents are having a comeback in this market.
Portland multifamily fundamentals showed tentative improvement in August, as advertised asking rent growth climbed 0.4 percent, on a trailing three-month basis to $1,761, ahead of the 0.2 percent U.S. figure and marking the metro’s strongest performance since July 2024. The occupancy rate in stabilized properties fell 50 basis points year-over-year to 94.5 percent in July, indicating that demand remained soft even as deliveries slowed.
The labor market remained a drag on apartment demand, as Portland employment fell 2.4 percent year-over-year in June while the U.S. rate remained essentially flat. Despite gains in education and health services (4,500 jobs) and leisure and hospitality (300), the metro lost 25,700 jobs as eight of 10 sectors contracted. Unemployment stood at 4.9 percent in June, below Oregon’s 5.2 percent but above the 4.1 percent national rate, according to BLS data. Completion of the $2.2 billion PDX main terminal reconstruction in June doubled airport capacity, while Genentech announced plans to expand its Hillsboro operations.
Development is losing momentum, which should gradually reduce supply pressure. Portland added 2,027 units through August, while starts fell 58.3 percent. Another 3,313 units were underway at the end of that period. Transaction volume declined 19.4 percent from the same period in 2025, to $824 million. A bigger share of higher priced sales lifted the average price per unit up 13.1 percent from the year-end figure, to $228,089, above the $192,668 U.S. figure.
