Milwaukie Or. Home sale prices hang around $500k
For the last 2 to 3 years, home prices have topped out, and interest costs not budging lower
Oregon attracted home buyers from outside the state during the middle-to-late 2010s but Oregon seems to have lost its attractiveness as population growth is no longer plus 1% per year, but less than half a percent per year.
Interest rates were a bargain in the 2010s and early 2020s, but after the federal government flooded the U.S economy with easy monies in the first half of the 2020s, interest rates have gone from below 5% on the 30 year fixed mortgage to almost 7%. So, higher interest rates are dampening home appreciation.
Locally, state, county, city and Metro governments subsidized this housing project in photo
These cottage cluster housing units received lowered house construction borrowing costs from the state, Metro bond related subsidies, and the city of Milwaukie kicked in I recall $300,000 (from proceeds gained from its taxing other people who did not receive favor from government in building their own homes.)
15 of these subsidized cottage clusters were built at 10025 se Harvey Street in Milwaukie, Oregon. They were listed for sale back in October of 2025 for a subsidized "affordable" price of $250,000 each. You might think that - at half the average home price in Milwaukie - that these units would sell like hotcakes.
But you would be wrong. As of today, it looks like only 4 of 15 units have sold after 11 months on the market. The qualifying buyer can make up to 80% of normal household incomes in the Portland area, but maybe the government application process is really slow compared to the private sector.
The thing also about these units is that the Homeowner Association (HOA) fees are listed at $235 per month. That might be part of the problem in getting these units sold. Then too there is no vehicle parking provided for these units on-site. But then again, I think property taxes might be relatively low for these units, seeing how the units do not include the land underneath them.
I am thinking that if you are working and can afford to pay over $1,600 per month in mortgage and HOA costs for one of these units, you might be more inclined to wait and save to buy a single-family home with its own yard. These "affordable" units look like condos waiting to become rentals, instead of owner occupied cottages.
(posted by Elvis Clark on September 2, 2026)
Wow, Sherwood voters vote for local land use Authority
The City of Sherwood Oregon layers on some local control over housing development in Sherwood
Yesterday, January 13, 2026, Sherwood voters overwhelming voted in favor of a Sherwood Ballot measure which edges Sherwood towards exercising local housing authority, edging towards challenging the state's authority to mandate cities build tiny homes and other state mandated housing.
Here's KATU news' reporting on Sherwood's ballot passing and Sherwood's taking back some of the local control over housing development that the state of Oregon recently overrode with state housing mandates - mandates that cram more housing into existing city lots or that stops cities from demanding that new housing developments provide adequate off-street parking:
Sherwood voters to decide on city rule changes tied to housing, local control
Boy, if I were younger than I am now and didn't mind spending $5,000 on a lawyer (just a start), I would attempt to lead an initiative petition in the City of Milwaukie - this petition making it costly for developers to build new housing without including off-street parking in their housing plans.
Sherwood leaders who spearheaded Sherwood's land use ballot measure say they expect a court challenge by the state of Oregon - state agencies asking state courts to strike down Sherwood's newly approved Ballot Measure vote. Sherwood attorneys think they have the right to restore local land use law control with their approved city ballot measure, because most Oregon cities, including Milwaukie, are Home Rule cities - cities with their own governing Charter.
(posted by Elvis Clark on January 14, 2026)
Oregon farm sector muddles, land underused
Wheat Farming in Oregon is now having a hard go of it.
Here's an article about the difficulties facing Oregon wheat farmers presently:
Growers find little good news in Oregon wheat market | East Oregonian
Economics professor and consultant, Dr. Eric Fruits, points out one of the serious drags on the Oregon economy is Oregon's restrictive land use policies, artificially limiting the supply of land for wholesome homes with their own yards. (See 'Oregon's Failed State' for Dr. Fruits most recent critique of Governor Kotek's "Prosperity" Plan.)
To me, economic prosperity is having a home with a yard, where you can grow your own fruits and vegetables, and flowers. That's prosperity, and what most people want for homes per numerous surveys of the public, not cooped up dinky apartments or common owned, HOA tiny homes. Living "tiny" is not beautiful.
(posted by Elvis Clark on December 7, 2025)
15 small houses squeezed onto two-thirds of an acre
On Milwaukie's Harvey Street, Subsidized housing construction is under way. No parking spaces.
Above in purple framing is the before and simulated outcome of 15 new small houses subsidized by taxpayers at a rate of about 30% of total construction cost.
Cons: (1) There is no parking provided on-site, causing the inevitable wall of parked cars on the adjacent street, namely, Harvey. The nearby section of Harvey has limited on-street parking already, but the City of Milwaukie plans to narrow Harvey, eliminating existing surplus parking spaces.
(2) Relies on housing bond / property tax subsidies. Those homeowners who are not eligible to be tenants of these subsided housing units, will fall closer to the edge of living affordability because they are subsidizing the few lucky ones getting subsidized housing. As a result, these government subsidized "affordable" housing projects actually cause some people to have to sell their homes to meet their other costs of living, as increasing taxes reduce net income for folks living on the lower edges of the middle class.
(3) An existing home will be demolished to make way for the 15 new small house units. So, the actual net gain is 14 homes, not 15.
(4) These small cottage cluster homes will share the lot together through a Home Owner association. Homeowner Associations typically charge for taking care of the common grounds.
(5) I would bet that after a period of time each of these small houses become rentals, rather than owner occupied. They are intended to start out as owner occupied. To be eligible to purchase one of these small homes, the bidder must have income less than 80% of the median level of income for Oregon.
Pros: As private property these newly constructed tiny homes should yield more in property tax proceeds for the City of Milwaukie, so as to bring more public safety dollars with their construction, so as to help fund a proportionate number of police and fire emergency staff.
(posted by Elvis Clark on November 3, 2024)