Vancouver is the Heavyweight of the Portland Apartment Market

The Vancouver submarket is currently leading Portland’s apartment performance. This submarket on the north bank of the Columbia River is Washington’s fourth-largest city. Vancouver absorbed 711 units in 2023’s 2nd quarter – the best showing in the market – and was also the market’s supply leader with 794 units delivered in the April to June quarter, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. On an annual basis, Vancouver went against the grain for demand. While most Portland submarkets logged net move-outs in the year-ending 2nd quarter, Vancouver absorbed 903 units, and was once again the supply leader with 1,482 units delivered in the past year. This submarket has ranked among Portland’s top apartment supply and demand centers regularly for the past five years or so. Vancouver saw one of metro Portland’s best occupancy rates in 2nd quarter at 95.8%. Only the Southwest Portland/Tigard neighborhood logged a better showing at 96.1%. Both submarkets were also top of the market for annual effective asking rent growth, both achieving an increase of 3.9%. Apartment construction activity in the Portland market is also focused on the Vancouver submarket, proving this area is going to continue to be a stronghold in the near term.