Housing availability and affordability continue to be top issues for Oregonians, who also value preserving natural lands. Although residents see the need for more housing, they feel ambivalent about building more housing in their own community while also seeing value in the laws protecting land from new developments. These conflicting priorities point to potential opportunities for creative housing solutions within urban boundaries to meet growing housing needs, while leaving the farm, forest, and coastal lands that Oregonians value and love.
Homelessness and housing affordability continue to be top-of-mind issues for Oregon voters.
Oregonians point to homelessness (43%) or affordable housing (16%) as the most important problems facing Oregon today. Oregonians are unified in concern for homelessness and housing, although views on causes and solutions likely vary.
Most Oregonians think it is a bad time to buy a home, and there is currently too little housing.
In what is substantially higher than the pre-pandemic average, 64% of Oregonians think it is a bad time to buy a home. Over half of residents (54%) believe the average price for homes in their area will increase over the next year.
While Oregonians are more pessimistic than they were six years ago, national sentiment is even lower. According to Gallup’s most recent Economy and Personal Finance survey[1], 72% of Americans say it is a bad time to buy a house, and 57% expect housing prices in their area to increase within the year.
Additionally, most Oregonians (68%), regardless of housing status, believe there is currently too little housing. Less than a quarter of Oregonians (21%) think there is about the right amount of housing. Homeowners and renters are equally likely to say that there is too little housing (67% of homeowners and 70% of renters). Perspectives about the amount of housing differ across the state, however. Even more people outside of the Portland metro area feel there is too little housing: 74% of those in the Willamette Valley think there is too little housing, as do 73% of those across the rest of the state, compared to 61% in the tri-county area.
Taken all together, our findings paint a picture of a challenging environment for people contemplating a home purchase. Those wanting to do so may see little hope that the situation will improve if housing prices continue to rise.
On balance, Oregonians more often believe that building more housing in their neighborhood will increase rent and housing costs while reducing neighborhood appeal.
Residents believe there will be some potential benefits if more housing is built nearby. Most Oregonians believe that increasing the housing supply in their neighborhood will lead to increased local tax revenue (69%), and a plurality believe home prices will increase (46%). Some also think rent prices will increase (41%), the neighborhood appeal will decrease (33%), and their personal satisfaction with the neighborhood will decrease (32%).
All in all, Oregonians foresee mixed effects of building more housing in their neighborhood. These trends highlight potential ambivalence toward efforts to increase housing supply.
Oregonians support laws that continue to protect farm, forest, and coastal lands in Oregon, and nearly half show strong support.
81% of Oregonians support the land use system established 50 years ago by Oregon’s legislature to protect farm, forest, and coastal lands from development. Support is high across age groups, indicating a strong cultural value shared among Oregonians for the place called home.
At least half of Oregon residents think the state’s land use system has positively impacted the environment and overall quality of life.
While 58% believe that Oregon’s land use system has made a positive impact on the environment, and half believe it has improved the overall quality of life in the state, Oregonians are equally likely to think the land use system has had no impact (36%) or a negative impact (35%) on housing costs. Oregonians are more split on—or uncertain about—the impact on Oregon’s economy, with 26% believing there has been a positive impact, 21% saying negative, and 35% unsure.
To protect the lands that make this state unique, Oregonians may be called to consider more housing in their neighborhoods. Policy makers face the challenge of effectively offering solutions that both uphold the Oregonian value of protecting natural lands while creating more housing for our communities.
Methodology
These findings come from a DHM Research (DHM) online survey of 500 Oregonians conducted from January 22 to January 29, 2025. Quotas were set by age, gender, area of the state, level of education, race, political party, income, and homeownership status to ensure a representative sample of Oregon residents. The margin of error for this survey is ±4.4%.
[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/660242/housing-market-perceptions-dampen-homebuying-intentions.aspx