The Rent is Too Damn High: Parking and Affordability in Portland, Oregon

This study presents a mixed-methods analysis of the Portland, Oregon rental housing market to demonstrate the price impact that on-site parking has on the rental market. This is the first analysis of the impacts of parking on price of housing stock in the rental market. Using a dataset of 22 apartment buildings spanning zero-parking, low-parking, and more traditional 1:1 parking space to residential unit ratios, the authors conduct an ordinary least squared regression to evaluate the impact higher parking ratios has on rental prices while controlling for other variables. The authors' model demonstrates that when comparing a new rental housing development with zero on-site parking to an otherwise equal development with one parking space per housing unit, there is 20% premium paid by tenants. This increase is despite the $70 to $180 per month parking fee paid at all sites with parking. This study contributes to the body of literature criticizing minimum parking zoning as inefficient, and even harmful, municipal policy. This analysis is then contextualized by interviews with Portland-area developers. The authors argue for the elimination of parking minimum zoning due to the cost burden such policy exacts on the rental market.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD30 Transportation and Land Development.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Hallowell, Alexandra
  • Stoy, Kelan
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Housing; Markets; Off street parking; Policy; Regression analysis; Rent
• Uncontrolled Terms: Affordability; Ordinary least-squares
• Geographic Terms: Portland (Oregon)
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01557168
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-3458
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 18 2015 5:09PM