Portland Housing: New Report Says Home Prices, Rents Among Fastest Rising in Nation

They just can't build houses and apartments fast enough in the Portland metro area. While there is construction going on in Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro and elsewhere, the limited availability keeps driving home prices and rental costs higher.

A new report by Zillow, the online real estate company, says home prices in the area were the fasted growing in the country last year while rental prices were the second fastest growing - only behind Seattle.

According to the report, home ownership prices grew 13.8 percent year over year - with the median home price being $354,000 - while rental prices rose 6.8 percent over the same period, with a median rental cot of $1,805 a month.

There may be hope on the horizon for people who feel they are being priced out of both home ownership and even being able to afford to rent a place.

A report earlier this month by Josh Lehner - an economist with the state' s Office of Economic Analysis - indicates that supply is finally catching up with demand, which will have an impact on prices in both markets.

Lehner wrote that it won't be so much that housing will become more affordable so much as the influx of new units - combined with household incomes rising across the region - means that prices will stop becoming less affordable.

"It may not improve considerably for some or even most households," he wrote. "And I do not expect affordability to suddenly return to previous levels, but it does mark a step in the right direction."

Chart via Zillow