Building Permits in Oregon

Oregon’s population continues to grow, led by migration to the state. Housing availability for both buyers and renters has become a concern in many local areas.

Oregon’s population added more than 600,000 residents between 2001 and 2016, averaging 1.1 percent growth per year during that time. The growth has not been evenly distributed across the state. Metropolitan areas in Oregon are growing more quickly than rural Oregon. Metro areas gained 561,000 residents between 2001 and 2016, averaging 1.1 percent growth per year, while rural areas gained 43,000 and averaged 0.4 percent growth per year.

Residential building permits in Oregon averaged around 17,600 per year between 2001 and 2016, according to a U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) database titled the State of the Cities Data Systems (SOCDS). The number of building permits statewide peaked at more than 30,000 in 2005, fell below 10,000 in 2009 through 2011, and has returned to more than 19,000 in 2016.

The Portland Metro area accounted for about 60 percent of statewide permits in the last few years. From 2010 through 2016, metro areas have seen residential permits grow to 5.3 permits per 1,000. Rural area permits have edged up, but they started their recovery later and have grown slower than in metro areas, reaching 1.9 permits per 1,000 in 2016.

Learn more about the types of building permits in the full article written by Will Summers and Jessica Nelson.