Around the World in Portland Neighborhoods

You don’t need to take out a second mortgage on your home to travel around the world and experience its cultures. You can find many ethnic experiences right here in Portland, Oregon!

Few of my clients buying or selling a home here in Portland realize that we have a pretty substantial range of global cultures in the area. In fact, 13 percent of the population is foreign born, and a quarter identified as non-white in the Census of 2010.

While that’s not much compared to other major US cities, our diversity is improving. “Oregon has one of the fastest growing refugee and immigrant populations in the country,” says the Portland non-profit IRCO. Add to that the existing legacy of European and Russian pioneers, African-American workers that soon followed, and the international influence of today’s tech industry, and you have a pretty good mix of cultural traditions.

What does that mean for Portland home owners and buyers? That there’s more to this city than bridges, rain and coffee! We have hundreds of ethnic markets and restaurants, churches and community centers. Portlanders and visitors alike flock to our international and cultural festivals, from Chinese New Year to the Lebanese Food Fest. Pack your daybag, we’re hitting the freeway to travel around the world (and check out some real estate along the way with the RMLS Market Action Report!)

The PG Melting Pot

Start your journey in the Powelhurst-Gilbert neighborhood of Southeast Portland. This is where many pioneer settlers put down roots around Oregon’s founding in 1859, and today it continues to be a place that newcomers gravitate toward. Asian, Hispanic and black citizens make up more than one-third of the area’s residents, and it might be considered the center of the present day Russian community. Russian-owned ABC Produce on Southeast 92nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard is a favorite among foodies, featuring reasonably priced organic produce, tinned fish galore and delicious Bulgarian cheeses. And any fan of Asian markets cannot miss the self-proclaimed “largest Asian shopping center in Oregon”, Fubonn Supermarket, which is actually a mall of shops carrying everything from clothing to books to groceries imported from the East.

Neighborhood: Powelhurst-Gilbert

Pop. Density: 7,000 people per square mile
Real Estate Fun Fact: Large lot sizes are perfect for urban agriculture, which is actually what drew pioneers here in the first place!
Median home price: $285,000 (SE Portland; year-to-date)
Active Listings: 250 (SE Portland; February 2016)

Oregon’s Most Diverse City

Next we climb the hills west of Portland, to a suburb that is home to Oregon’s fastest growing immigrant population. Home to big names like Nike and Intel, Beaverton has also been hailed as “Oregon’s most diverse city” by the US Embassy.

Want your kids to grow up bi- or even tri-lingual? Over 80 languages, from Albanian to Urdu, are spoken in Beaverton’s public schools and about 30 percent of students speak a language besides English, according to English as a Second Language program director Wei Wei Lou.

Koreans and Tejanos (Texans of Mexican origin) started settling in Beaverton in the 1960s, and the population has grown ever since. Now 10% of Beavertonians identify as Asian and 11% as Hispanic according to the most recent Census data. This diversity is reflected in an abundance of popular restaurants and food markets that showcase food from all over Asia and Latin America. In fact, last year Beaverton pioneered a Night Market to “create a vibrant, intercultural, family-friendly space that is reminiscent of night markets internationally” (City of Beaverton). Look out for more of them this summer!

Neighborhood: City of Beaverton

Pop. Density: 4,800 people per square mile
Real Estate Fun Fact: It’s cheaper to buy a home than to rent one in Beaverton. Last year, rents increased at twice the rate as Portland according to the non-profit group Multifamily NW!
Median home price (year to date): $ 274,800
Active listings (February 2016): 145

Portland Polonia

The Overlook neighborhood of North Portland is no longer a Polish enclave, but if we travel back in time about 100 years, we wouldn’t hear anything but Polish spoken and the Perogies would be excellent! The architecture is still here — the magnificent St. Stanislaus Church and the Polish Library — and Poles still gather at the church and to dine at Grandpa’s Cafe in the Polish Library basement. One of Portland’s favorite festivals is the annual Polish Festival, now in its 23rd year, which draws in around 15,000 people and offers a slice of Polish life. Plenty of Polish beer and kielbasa make the Polka that much more interesting! It’s just one feature of this North Portland neighborhood that makes it one of the most in-demand places to buy a home.

Neighborhood: Overlook/North Portland

Pop. Density: 2,300 people per square mile (Overlook)
Real Estate Fun Fact: North Portland is where many of the city’s historic homes can be found. Perfect for the history buff!
Median home price (N Portland; year to date): $337,500
Active Listings (N Portland; February 2016): 89

Next Stop: Anyone’s Guess

Where’s the next big ethnic community in Portland? Time will tell. As people from all over the world buy homes and move to Portland and surrounding areas, our city will become more diverse. And, as those immigrants bring in more ethnic food carts, markets and festivals, Portland’s reputation as an international hotspot will continue to grow! It’s a win-win.

All of this multicultural growth has a positive impact on home values, too. More research needs to be done, but a study of Southern California home prices yielded an interesting result. From the Huffington Post:
“Ethnic diversity used to be correlated with slower home value appreciation. Now, it is the opposite. Neighborhoods with higher ethnic diversity — including Latinos, Asians, African Americans and others — experienced higher housing appreciation over the decade. In one specific example given, communities with 10 percent more Latinos than surrounding areas at the beginning of the 2000s saw a 1.3 percent greater increase in home values over the past ten years.”

Great news for the housing market, and for Portland — a growing 21st-century city.