The following is shared from Oregon Employment Department Economic Indicators (via realtor.com):
Oregon’s housing crisis has deepened over the past decade, and the latest data confirms it’s among the nation’s toughest markets for affordability. The Realtor.com® State-by-State Housing Report Card gave the Beaver State an F, underscoring its severe supply shortage and soaring costs. The report—part of the Let America Build campaign—grades every state on how well it balances current affordability with future construction potential. And this is a national problem. In fact, President Donald Trump recently put pressure on homebuilders to increase construction nationwide, given the issues with construction in the country. In a post on his Truth Social platform in early October, he accused major builders of hoarding lots to prop up prices—likening them to OPEC, which restricts oil output to maintain high prices.
“They’re my friends … but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes. They’re sitting on 2 Million empty lots, A RECORD,” Trump wrote. He urged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to intervene and “get Big Homebuilders going” to “restore the American Dream.” Oregon’s results reveal a market where too few homes are being built and too many residents are being priced out.
Oregon’s “F” grade explained
Realtor.com’s analysis gave Oregon a total score of just 29.8, placing it near the bottom of the national rankings. The state’s median listing price was $563,896 in 2024, while the median household income reached $78,022—a gap that continues to widen each year. The Realtors Affordability Score stood at 0.46, indicating that only a small fraction of homes on the market are attainable for middle-income earners.
On the construction side, Oregon accounted for just 1.0% of national housing permits despite making up 1.3% of the U.S. population. That leaves it with a permit-to-population ratio of 0.77, showing that it’s underbuilding relative to its size. The state’s new construction premium—the price difference between new and existing homes—was just 2.0%, but that low figure reflects how costly both types of homes have become, rather than an abundance of affordable options.
Realtor.com economists point to a combination of high land costs, restrictive zoning, and environmental regulations as major obstacles to new construction. Without a sharp increase in housing production, Oregon’s affordability problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.