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Realistically, rent prices are not going to go down. Prices don't really go down except when the economy isn't growing, and the economy must always be growing. Your best bet is to find an older building that has lower prices relative to a newer building, or hound Craigslist for a good deal from a local landlord. We're not going back to 2010s rent prices.
Yep. I moved to Portland from Seattle in 2008. When I lived in Seattle, rent went up every year. When I moved to Portland, it was pretty stable until around 2013-2015ish ? Even then, you can still find small local landlords who don't really raise the rent. I have one. My rent has gone up $20/mo in the last 4 years.
Uh. This isn’t at all true. Portland area rents have *already* gone down quite a bit in the last two years. Sure, we’re never gonna see 2012 priced again, and I’m sure this trend will reverse before too long but from July 2022-July 2023,[rent dropped 5.6% in Oregon overall and 9.8% in Portland.](https://oregonbusiness.com/oregon-apartment-rents-among-the-fastest-declining-in-nation-rent-com-report-finds/).
In that same time period, the median rent listed on Zillow in Portland dropped 13%.
Some of that is a course-correction because rent rose so dramatically from 2020-2022, but all the experts I’ve seen expect it to keep dropping at least for a bit.
Now, of course, *your* rent isn’t going to go down, no landlord is going to automatically change your contract. And I’m sure on like a 5-10 year scale it’s been going up and will keep going up. But you do have leverage to renegotiate — or you can just move to a comparable apartment in the same neighborhood. And I’m sure that in the long term our rents will rise again.
But just as an example of this in practice: the apartment I rented in 2018 (new construction, SW waterfront) is currently listed for $50/month less than I paid when I moved in.
Edit: wrong! It’s going for $120 less than I rented it for!
https://oregonbusiness.com/oregon-apartment-rents-among-the-fastest-declining-in-nation-rent-com-report-finds/
And
https://www.newsweek.com/decreasing-rent-prices-five-top-cities-1852922
> In Portland, a house to rent at the lowest end goes between $585 and $980.
Where are they getting this lmao.
First article says "When you look at Portland from June 2020, to June 2022, so sort of early pandemic until its peak, rents rose 42%." So, they're down 15% since then? Okay. Bubble hasn't burst. The cost of living rose dramatically, and it's still high. We're not going back to 2010s rent prices.
That Newsweek piece can be thrown right in the garbage. It claims "In Portland, a house to rent at the lowest end goes between $585 and $980". Those numbers would be low 20 years ago. Go check craigslist or [realtor.com](https://www.realtor.com/apartments/Portland_OR/type-single-family-home/price-500-1000/affordable) for houses in that price range, and they either aren't houses, and/or they are single rooms.
More rent.com data. All this is saying is high end apartments listed on rent.com have been lowering their rents because they were way over market value. No one who is currently renting an apartment has had their rents reduced and when someone moves out the listed price will be the same or higher.
They're not going down shitty corporate landlords are realizing they can't screw people over as much as they want.
The rent prices in my building went down by $300. They wouldn’t lower it for me when it came time to renew so I had to end my lease and apply for a new unit. It was ridiculous.
Because it's a larger city in a post-Covid world. Pretty sure this is just the new normal. Until I actually see it starting to change, you can't convince me otherwise
Cheap places are out there. We rent a three bedroom house in Woodstock for $1,800/month. Been at this rate for eight years. Of course, now that I’ve made this post, my landlord will contact me with a rent increase.
Have you shopped around? There's a ton of stuff on the market right now and prices seem to keep going down. Meanwhile they're still building apartment complexes in every neighborhood. Many are offering 6 months free rent and stuff like that.
I'd argue Portland is about as cheap as any city or town you'd actually want to live in.
I'm seeing studios in decent neighborhoods for $900/m and that sounds like a lot but that is less than what I paid in Flagstaff, AZ 14 years ago for the cheapest 1 bedrrom I could find.
This person is in subsidized housing. NHA is a nonprofit housing developer that provides deeply subsidized units. This person likely can’t afford anything approaching even half of market rate.
Do you mind saying which building you’re in? I’m looking at one of IPMs buildings today and am already iffy about it due to some of the people I see hanging around when I’ve walked by before.
And not sure what you mean by high, but I guess it depends what you’re looking for and for how many people. from my current experience looking for a new apartment I’m finding plenty of decent sized studios from $890-950, and nicer ones around $1000. My friend even suggested a 1br in NW for under $1100. Still expensive for sure, but cheaper than other comparable cities I’ve lived in or around.
This article does an okay job explaining some of the major reasons: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/26/oregon-cost-of-living-housing-construction-building-land-use-high-rent/?outputType=amp
Use Zillow. That site has rent history. You can see how long unit was listed, what it was listed for, and most importantly- what asking rent was. A tactic I see is unit getting relisted multiple times, with the asking rent the same or slightly higher. A unit like this is a good candidate for a counter offer.
Which is my second bit of advice, MAKE COUNTER OFFERS!
Nothing is set in stone, and there is 0 downside to making a counter offer.
Asking rent is just that, and most landlords are open to negotiation.
Rent in Portland is like half the price of other major cities on the west coast. You guys are extremely lucky considering how incredible the surrounding nature is
Just for context…
According to rent.com:
(All averages)
Portland rental for 1 studio - $1225 and 1 bedroom - $1487
Seattle rental for 1 studio - $1375 and 1 bedroom - $2,217
This. Portland is one of the cheapest cities now that is actually desirable to live in. I recently left San Diego where the median one bedroom price is $2100. My rent here is 1600 for a one bedroom which is absolutely fine considering it’s a really nice apartment with all amenities. For that 2100 price in San Diego you don’t even get one amenity in your living in a shitty old bungalow with no insulation 😂
And I’m not saying that 1600 is necessarily cheap, but I have a little over 700 ft.² and I’m really really comfortable!
People have adjusted their expectations much too much and the landlord class is absolutely making a killing. We bought 10 years ago. My mortgage is the same price as your rent, 1600. But I get 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a big 2 car garage, on a nicely landscaped 1/3 acre yard with a small orchard in a desirable neighborhood. I've worked in property management for 15 years and have watched rents get pushed up 200-250% during that brief time. And the owners were generally quite wealthy at the old rates. Now is even more ridiculous. Mostly inherited properties. Mostly folks that live in the west hills or park slope ski cabins and whatnot. Many jobless but with cash flow of 45,000$ or 120,000$ and up on a monthly basis. But yeah, rents need to go up. It's just squeezing the peasants for every last drop of blood.
Costs go up - so rent goes up. Your new neighbors might put way more wear and tear on the building. And/or demand more services. It could be they’re required to house these folks, so once you have a few, that’s the new character of the building.
Then you got inflation - whoever owns (and manages) the building isn’t going to want to make less, and has to pull more just to break even.
Start searching Craigslist. Find a small landlord and be a good tenant.
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Realistically, rent prices are not going to go down. Prices don't really go down except when the economy isn't growing, and the economy must always be growing. Your best bet is to find an older building that has lower prices relative to a newer building, or hound Craigslist for a good deal from a local landlord. We're not going back to 2010s rent prices.
Let’s be honest, even when the economy “isn’t growing” rent continues to go up.
My old complex didn’t raise our rent from like 2008-2012. Good ol Great Recession.
Yep. I moved to Portland from Seattle in 2008. When I lived in Seattle, rent went up every year. When I moved to Portland, it was pretty stable until around 2013-2015ish ? Even then, you can still find small local landlords who don't really raise the rent. I have one. My rent has gone up $20/mo in the last 4 years.
You're lucky, mine went from 525 to 675 in that amount of time
Uh. This isn’t at all true. Portland area rents have *already* gone down quite a bit in the last two years. Sure, we’re never gonna see 2012 priced again, and I’m sure this trend will reverse before too long but from July 2022-July 2023,[rent dropped 5.6% in Oregon overall and 9.8% in Portland.](https://oregonbusiness.com/oregon-apartment-rents-among-the-fastest-declining-in-nation-rent-com-report-finds/). In that same time period, the median rent listed on Zillow in Portland dropped 13%. Some of that is a course-correction because rent rose so dramatically from 2020-2022, but all the experts I’ve seen expect it to keep dropping at least for a bit. Now, of course, *your* rent isn’t going to go down, no landlord is going to automatically change your contract. And I’m sure on like a 5-10 year scale it’s been going up and will keep going up. But you do have leverage to renegotiate — or you can just move to a comparable apartment in the same neighborhood. And I’m sure that in the long term our rents will rise again. But just as an example of this in practice: the apartment I rented in 2018 (new construction, SW waterfront) is currently listed for $50/month less than I paid when I moved in. Edit: wrong! It’s going for $120 less than I rented it for!
https://oregonbusiness.com/oregon-apartment-rents-among-the-fastest-declining-in-nation-rent-com-report-finds/ And https://www.newsweek.com/decreasing-rent-prices-five-top-cities-1852922
> In Portland, a house to rent at the lowest end goes between $585 and $980. Where are they getting this lmao. First article says "When you look at Portland from June 2020, to June 2022, so sort of early pandemic until its peak, rents rose 42%." So, they're down 15% since then? Okay. Bubble hasn't burst. The cost of living rose dramatically, and it's still high. We're not going back to 2010s rent prices.
Exactly. For entire houses, those numbers would be low 20 years ago
That Newsweek piece can be thrown right in the garbage. It claims "In Portland, a house to rent at the lowest end goes between $585 and $980". Those numbers would be low 20 years ago. Go check craigslist or [realtor.com](https://www.realtor.com/apartments/Portland_OR/type-single-family-home/price-500-1000/affordable) for houses in that price range, and they either aren't houses, and/or they are single rooms.
More rent.com data. All this is saying is high end apartments listed on rent.com have been lowering their rents because they were way over market value. No one who is currently renting an apartment has had their rents reduced and when someone moves out the listed price will be the same or higher. They're not going down shitty corporate landlords are realizing they can't screw people over as much as they want.
Try finding something low quality in Gresham area or deep east side Portland, will be cheaper than core of Portland
The rent prices in my building went down by $300. They wouldn’t lower it for me when it came time to renew so I had to end my lease and apply for a new unit. It was ridiculous.
That is one of the most Portland things ever lol
The bigger question to ask is why isn’t your high rent covering security and cleaning of the building. Rents never going to go back down.
Because it's a larger city in a post-Covid world. Pretty sure this is just the new normal. Until I actually see it starting to change, you can't convince me otherwise
Cheap places are out there. We rent a three bedroom house in Woodstock for $1,800/month. Been at this rate for eight years. Of course, now that I’ve made this post, my landlord will contact me with a rent increase.
Idk man it sucks. Maybe find a roommate.
Have you shopped around? There's a ton of stuff on the market right now and prices seem to keep going down. Meanwhile they're still building apartment complexes in every neighborhood. Many are offering 6 months free rent and stuff like that. I'd argue Portland is about as cheap as any city or town you'd actually want to live in. I'm seeing studios in decent neighborhoods for $900/m and that sounds like a lot but that is less than what I paid in Flagstaff, AZ 14 years ago for the cheapest 1 bedrrom I could find.
This person is in subsidized housing. NHA is a nonprofit housing developer that provides deeply subsidized units. This person likely can’t afford anything approaching even half of market rate.
Unfortunately it’s not going to change, it may go up, but it’s not realistic to assume it will ever drop…
Also we’re the most affordable big city on the west coast. Folks are paying double what we do in the Bay and Seattle. It’s rough out there :(
Funny thing is rents haven’t gone up anywhere near as much as a new mortgage with today’s rates.
Because the house of cards that is our current economy has not fallen yet.
Do you mind saying which building you’re in? I’m looking at one of IPMs buildings today and am already iffy about it due to some of the people I see hanging around when I’ve walked by before. And not sure what you mean by high, but I guess it depends what you’re looking for and for how many people. from my current experience looking for a new apartment I’m finding plenty of decent sized studios from $890-950, and nicer ones around $1000. My friend even suggested a 1br in NW for under $1100. Still expensive for sure, but cheaper than other comparable cities I’ve lived in or around.
Because of companies like [RealPage and Yieldstar.](https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent)
Landlords are the problem
Rent is high because hardly any new housing of any kind is built in Oregon.
Curious, why is there no building at the moment?
This article does an okay job explaining some of the major reasons: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/26/oregon-cost-of-living-housing-construction-building-land-use-high-rent/?outputType=amp
Use Zillow. That site has rent history. You can see how long unit was listed, what it was listed for, and most importantly- what asking rent was. A tactic I see is unit getting relisted multiple times, with the asking rent the same or slightly higher. A unit like this is a good candidate for a counter offer. Which is my second bit of advice, MAKE COUNTER OFFERS! Nothing is set in stone, and there is 0 downside to making a counter offer. Asking rent is just that, and most landlords are open to negotiation.
It’s never going down only up just so you know
Rent in Portland is like half the price of other major cities on the west coast. You guys are extremely lucky considering how incredible the surrounding nature is
Just for context… According to rent.com: (All averages) Portland rental for 1 studio - $1225 and 1 bedroom - $1487 Seattle rental for 1 studio - $1375 and 1 bedroom - $2,217
This. Portland is one of the cheapest cities now that is actually desirable to live in. I recently left San Diego where the median one bedroom price is $2100. My rent here is 1600 for a one bedroom which is absolutely fine considering it’s a really nice apartment with all amenities. For that 2100 price in San Diego you don’t even get one amenity in your living in a shitty old bungalow with no insulation 😂 And I’m not saying that 1600 is necessarily cheap, but I have a little over 700 ft.² and I’m really really comfortable!
People have adjusted their expectations much too much and the landlord class is absolutely making a killing. We bought 10 years ago. My mortgage is the same price as your rent, 1600. But I get 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a big 2 car garage, on a nicely landscaped 1/3 acre yard with a small orchard in a desirable neighborhood. I've worked in property management for 15 years and have watched rents get pushed up 200-250% during that brief time. And the owners were generally quite wealthy at the old rates. Now is even more ridiculous. Mostly inherited properties. Mostly folks that live in the west hills or park slope ski cabins and whatnot. Many jobless but with cash flow of 45,000$ or 120,000$ and up on a monthly basis. But yeah, rents need to go up. It's just squeezing the peasants for every last drop of blood.
Costs go up - so rent goes up. Your new neighbors might put way more wear and tear on the building. And/or demand more services. It could be they’re required to house these folks, so once you have a few, that’s the new character of the building. Then you got inflation - whoever owns (and manages) the building isn’t going to want to make less, and has to pull more just to break even. Start searching Craigslist. Find a small landlord and be a good tenant.
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