City Location and Pricing of 854 Closed Two-Four Unit Sales in the Three County Portland Metro from Early March 2017-Early March 2019.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about "missing middle" housing and I thought it might be useful to get a feel for where 2 to 4 unit sales have been occurring and at what price.

Using RMLS data I constructed the table below that provides a breakout by county and city of all closed 2 to 4 unit property sales in a three county Portland Metro area from Early March 2017 to Early March 2019.

Observations

1. The city of Portland accounted for 59% (505) of all 2 to 4 unit closed sales.
2. Two unit properties totaled 602, 70% of all 2 to 4 unit sales.
3. At the far right of the table you will see a breakout of cost per unit for 2 unit versus 4 unit closed sales. On average the per-unit sale price for a 2 unit property was 30% higher than the per-unit sales price for a four unit property. 
4. I don't know if this translates over to new construction but it seems plausible that on a per unit basis a 4 unit development may be the more affordable alternative. (It is also possible that location, size, age, or amenities of 2 unit sales for this period had more market appeal than did 4 unit properties). 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog,