Portland observer., May 15, 2002, Page 6, Image 6

P»«*? a 6 _______________________________ ¿T|je J l o r tJ a u b 0 i)h se rtie r_____________________________May is,2002
Oregon Home Costs Double in 1990s
(A P)— The median value of a home in
Oregon grew from $67,100 in 1990 to
$ 152,100 in 2000, a jum p of 126 percent,
data released Tuesday from the census’
so-called “long form" showed.
The census form was mailed to about
one in six households and asked 53 de­
tailed questions on education, housing,
ethnic background, languages spoken
and income.
If inflation is taken into account over the
decade, home prices still rose 73 percent.
“We have made a steady march up­
ward,” said Mike Hobson, an associate
broker with Prudential who deals in prop­
erty in the Portland area.
Happy Valley, a terraced development
east of Interstate 205 outside Portland,
boasted the state’s most expensive real
estate. The median cost of a home there was
$306,000 in 2000, according to the census.
In second place was Lake Oswego,
where the median property value was
$269,200. Lake Oswego had been in first
place in the 1990 census.
The data showed that while housing
prices shot up, personal income increased
much more slowly.
Those who responded to the census
long form reported a median income of
$40,916 in 1999, the last whole year mea­
sured in the 2000 count. In 1989, Orego­
nians on the middle rung of the income
ladder earned $27,250, according to the
1990 census.
That was an increase of about 50 per­
cent, or 19 percent if the figures are ad­
justed for inflation.
Property values increased faster than
incomes in part because the state’s popu­
lation grew - by 21 percent - in the decade,
and because those on the upper end of
the income scale benefited from the tech
boom, and because banks began offering
mortgages on easier terms to first time
buyers, Hobson said.
Happy Valley has become a dense
thicket of pricey homes in part because it
was developed largely in the 1990s, when
the market favored large, upscale homes,
Hobson said.
PDC Acquires Lloyd District Hotel
The Portland Development Commis­
sion will purchase the Best Western
Hotel at 420 N.E. Holladay in the Lloyd
District for $5.2 million.
The 97-room, five-story hotel, with a
60-car parking garage is located directly
across Northeast Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard from the Oregon Conven­
tion Center.
The commission has worked with
hotel experts to assess the existing con­
dition of the hotel. Conclusions are that
the hotel suffers from a backlog of de­
ferred maintenance and requires up­
dated furniture, fixtures and equipment
as well as common-area upgrades.
The ground floor hotel restaurant is
closed intermittently and a large spa
facility on the ground floor is unused.
H otel ex p ert Tom K ennedy o f
Jinneman, Kennedy & Mohn indicates
the hotel is falling far short of its market
potential, but has a very high potential to
be turned around with improved manage­
ment and investment in the property.
PDC sees the purchase as key for
several reasons. First, the hotel is in a
strategic location to help meet long­
term area redevelopment goals - includ­
ing the possibility of a headquarters
hotel. Second, improving the hotel and
image of the property will contribute
positively to the Convention Center and
Lloyd District area and preserve jobs.
T ra d itio n
o f
D scenence
-x yxy.
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