I think it’s important to understand if low vacancy is a system or a disease. For example, when my partner and I moved to Portland five years ago, vacancy rates were only marginally higher than today, maybe a tick above 3% compared to 2.8% now. Rents, however, were fairly stable the first two years we lived here, but have since skyrocketed. Right off the bat we can say that they don’t seem like a prime causal factor for high prices, or at least don’t tell the whole story.
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