Report: Portland Commercial Real Estate 3rd Worst in Nation

PORTLAND-Hit the brakes and turn around before entering Portland’s multifamily and office markets, proceed with caution into the industrial zone and dive head first into the retail scene. That’s the word from Moody’s Investor Service, which recently released its third-quarter red-yellow-green report on the nation’s commercial real estate markets.

Portland’s green-light market for community and neighborhood shopping centers kept the city from being the overall worst market in the country, according to the report. Portland scored 94 out of 100 to be listed as the 6th best retail market in the country. The nation’s average score was 88.

Portland’s multifamily market, on the other hand, showed by far the sharpest decline in the nation, according to the report, which scored Portland a big fat zero out of 100 for the third quarter, down from 66 in the second quarter, which itself was well below the nation’s average score of 72. Supply has increased 2% from the second quarter while demand is expected to decline by 7.3%, the biggest drop-off in the nation, according to the report. The 9.5% spread is the widest of the 53 markets covered in the report.