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I've lived in Portland for several years, and I know the business landscape here pretty well. I've helped build a few companies, back when Portland was a place

I've lived in Portland for several years, and I know the business landscape here pretty well. I've helped build a few companies, back when Portland was a place investors wrote off as a joke. I've been watching in amazement over the last few years as this has really gotten out of control. The Portland metro region is a great place, and there's a lot of potential. But frankly, it doesn't have the economic infrastructure to justify $600k 1200sqft houses in the neighborhoods, triple-increased in price within the span of 5 years with appraisal rights waived. It's definitely gone up in value, but that's a ridiculous increase that's really hard to justify when contrasted with the fundamentals. You can try to blame some specific group, but really I see this ultimately as an unintended consequence of QE, ultra-low interest rates, and the subsequent global currency war it appears to have triggered. When there's a pile of cash floating around and nothing returning interest to put it into, it moves into other devices. The stock market is an obvious example (with plenty of bad consequences), but real estate is far scarier, and far more insidious. It has a tendency to rip up cities.

pjc50 11y ago
Global inequality has a part to play here as well. But yes, it seems to be an almost deliberate plan to reinflate asset prices. And raising housing cost while wages are flat just exacerbates inequality.
- kyledrake 11y ago
  Yes, exactly this, thank you for bringing this up. Wages are flat across most sectors, and Portland's job market for supporting higher wages has not improved much. There's been some growth in tech (Disclaimer: I'm very much in Portland tech), but the jury is very much out on how stable this is going to be long-term, as much of this growth is investment-driven and not profitable. Beyond a few small IPOs, there's been unusually large growth of what I could try to describe as artisinal restaurants, food carts and other craftswork type businesses. It's not a bad thing at all, but it simply isn't going to justify these outlandish prices. The skyrocketing cost of living is a serious threat to the businesses and people that made Portland unique and interesting in the first place. To give a contrast, I have friends in Minneapolis/St. Paul who were able to find very good 2k+ sqft homes for around $200k, in good neighborhoods within Minneapolis proper. This region ranks first among the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the number of Fortune 500 companies per capita, across highly diversified sectors. Within that stable jobs infrastructure, housing has not tripled, and they still use appraisals. Something is definitely not right here.
- themartorana 11y ago
  I have a great job with great pay, and even I'm getting priced out of the market. My wife often wonders where all of the millionaires come from (and living in Philadelphia, surrounded by rich towns in NJ and PA, I wonder the same thing, too) because that's the base-line to afford a decent apartment in the city or detached house with a bit of land in the burbs that can hold a family of four. All that, and Philly has actually remained somewhat flat in housing prices when compared to the likes of NY, DC, and in this case, Portland. It's crazy to me how much you have to make to put a decent roof over your family's head anymore (in a decent school district to boot).

pjc50 11y ago

Global inequality has a part to play here as well. But yes, it seems to be an almost deliberate plan to reinflate asset prices. And raising housing cost while wages are flat just exacerbates inequality.

kyledrake 11y ago
Yes, exactly this, thank you for bringing this up. Wages are flat across most sectors, and Portland's job market for supporting higher wages has not improved much. There's been some growth in tech (Disclaimer: I'm very much in Portland tech), but the jury is very much out on how stable this is going to be long-term, as much of this growth is investment-driven and not profitable. Beyond a few small IPOs, there's been unusually large growth of what I could try to describe as artisinal restaurants, food carts and other craftswork type businesses. It's not a bad thing at all, but it simply isn't going to justify these outlandish prices. The skyrocketing cost of living is a serious threat to the businesses and people that made Portland unique and interesting in the first place. To give a contrast, I have friends in Minneapolis/St. Paul who were able to find very good 2k+ sqft homes for around $200k, in good neighborhoods within Minneapolis proper. This region ranks first among the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the number of Fortune 500 companies per capita, across highly diversified sectors. Within that stable jobs infrastructure, housing has not tripled, and they still use appraisals. Something is definitely not right here.
themartorana 11y ago
I have a great job with great pay, and even I'm getting priced out of the market. My wife often wonders where all of the millionaires come from (and living in Philadelphia, surrounded by rich towns in NJ and PA, I wonder the same thing, too) because that's the base-line to afford a decent apartment in the city or detached house with a bit of land in the burbs that can hold a family of four. All that, and Philly has actually remained somewhat flat in housing prices when compared to the likes of NY, DC, and in this case, Portland. It's crazy to me how much you have to make to put a decent roof over your family's head anymore (in a decent school district to boot).