The Gresham Real Estate Market Guide (including Troutdale!)

Back in the gold rush days, the community that today we call Troutdale, Oregon was known as “Revenue”.

Tucked in near the Columbia River east of Portland, the Gresham and Troutdale area is ideally located at the edge of the metro, with real estate values climbing as quickly as the big city to its west!

Gresham and Troutdale are both incorporated cities as well as suburbs of Portland. Gresham is much larger; in fact, at 106,000 residents, it’s the fourth largest city in Oregon. Troutdale is the second largest city in the area, boasting a population of around 16,000. Wood Village, population of around 4,000, and Fairview, population of around 9,000 round out the area. There are a lot of little cities in close proximity to each other causing confusion for visitors, but not for local residents!

For the sake of brevity for the area, we will focus on the Gresham and Troutdale real estate markets.

Troutdale, Oregon

This charming little town is best known by Portland residents as the site of Edgefield. Built in the 1930s, this former county hospital and relief institution for the poor was threatened with demolition by the 1980s. Residents stepped into save it, registering it on the National Registry of Historic Places, and McMenamins — a popular Portland-based chain of brewpubs — bought the property. Today, people come from all over the region to go to concerts, stay at the hotel, attend weddings, and relax at the Edgefield McMenamins in Troutdale!

Because it’s right on confluence of the Sandy River and the Columbia Gorge, outdoor recreation opportunities abound in Troutdale. This area is famous for windsurfing, waterfalls and snow sports at nearby Mt. Hood. Residents tout the small town lifestyle but enjoy being just 30 minutes’ drive from Portland. The city is served by busses but not the MAX light rail line.

According to niche.com, the median household income in Troutdale is $60,340, and home ownership rates are around 63%. In Portland, by comparison, the median household income is around $55,000, and about 53% of residents own their own home.

Gresham, Oregon

Just southwest of Troutdale, Gresham is a diverse and bustling city with a distinct identity — and around 10 times more people than Troutdale. As the crow flies, it’s only 12 miles from downtown Portland, and Burnside Street (which becomes the Mount Hood Highway in East Gresham) divides it to the North and South. Home values tend to up toward East Gresham. Although the area is flat — historically it was a farming region — it gets hilly as you head in the direction of Troutdale. Johnson Creek flows from the Cascade Mountains through Gresham on its way to meet the Willamette River in Portland.

Like Troutdale, Gresham is just a 30 minute drive away from Portland; unlike Troutdale, you can also get to downtown Portland by the MAX. Springwater Corridor bike path connects Gresham to Portland and runs along Johnson Creek for a large part of the route. A new bike path is also being planned between Troutdale and Gresham, which would connect Troutdale to the Springwater Corridor.

For Portland workers looking to live in the suburbs, Gresham is a great option, and not just because transportation is a breeze. Gresham has many more school options than Troutdale, with schools performing well overall. As you might expect for a community that still boasts quite a bit of agriculture, the farmers’ market is fantastic! A number of parks and historic sites round out Gresham’s profile as a family friendly place, quieter than Portland but with many similar amenities.

According to niche.com, the median household income in Gresham is just under $57,000, with a home ownership profile closer to Portland’s, at 53% owning.

Real Estate Trends in Gresham/Troutdale

There were 193 active listings in the Gresham/Troutdale area last month, according to the most recent RMLS report. Median year-to-date sales price is a very reasonable $292,500, a 12.1% growth over last year. Average total market time in Gresham/Troutdale for March was 55 days.

Overall for Portland, total market time (year-to-date) is at 59 days. The median home sales price in the Portland metro area was $353,500 in March.
This real estate data points toward a very affordable housing market for Gresham/Troutdale, with prices much lower than central Portland but rising at a similar pace (Portland’s year-to-date median home price rose 12.2% in the same report). These numbers indicate that Gresham and Troudale may be ripe for investment in a single family home or condo unit. (We wouldn’t be surprised if the name Revenue started coming back as a nickname for this region!)

Future of Gresham and Troutdale Housing

The City of Gresham has published a Comprehensive Plan with its vision for the coming decades. They recognize that Gresham has yet to see its biggest period of growth.

“Between 1990 and 2000, Gresham’s population increased by approximately 32%,” reads the report, “while the increase between 2000 and 2010 was a more moderate 17%”. This doesn’t mean growth is slowing down; rather, like any suburb, Gresham grows alongside Portland. The 90’s were a period of growth, as were the early 2000s, but in the latter part of the decade growth — and population increases — slowed down and may have even gone into the negatives.

Now that we’re seeing a healthy economy return to the Pacific Northwest, especially Portland, we can expect populations and home prices to surge again in suburbs like Gresham and Troutdale.

Troudale’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan calls for a variety of new housing types. The city expects 4,000 new residents between 2010 and 2020, with the majority of them looking to buy real estate. They note that Toutdale’s median age is lower than Portland, and that household size is slightly larger, meaning that younger families make up a large portion of the population.

Gresham and Troutdale Home Types Available

There’s really something for everyone in this quiet Portland suburb, from luxury homes on spacious parcels of land to affordable starter homes. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of condos and apartment units available. However, there are still many unbuilt lots, and a friendliness toward new construction in these cities.

What are you waiting for? Contact our top 1% Portland Buyers’ Team and take a look at Gresham and Troutdale today!