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 m

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.