Save the date!
The tenth annual Build It Green! Home Tour and Info Fair
Saturday, September 24th, 2011 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Nominate a residential project for the 2011 BIG! Home Tour
View pictures from the 2010 tour on Flickr
Contact Valerie Garrett, tour coordinator greenhotline@portlandoregon.gov 503-823-5431 for more information.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Real estate site Zillow.com filed for a $51.75 million initial public offering Monday.
The Seattle-based company didn't say in its Form S-1 filing how many shares it planned to sell, nor how it would price each share. However, it did say that Technology Crossover Ventures and PAR Investment Partners agreed to buy a total of $5.5 million of common stock directly from Zillow.
Zillow, founded in 2004, provides a database of more than 100 million U.S. homes for sale or rent, as well as homes not currently on the market. In March, the site and mobile app together attracted 19.4 million unique users — a year-over-year gain of more than 90%.
Zillow's revenue has grown significantly over the past three years, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In 2010, Zillow's revenue jumped 74% to $30.5 million. Read more
GrowingGardens' 2011 Tour de Coops
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Calling all Chicken Coop Owners!
Growing Gardens is now selecting coops for the 2011 tour. If you would like to show your coop on the tour please fill out the Coop Owner Interest form and return it, along with at least 4 pictures of your coop and 4 pictures of your yard to rodney (@) growing-gardens.org Learn more
December through March: Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, at 10 a.m.
April through November: Daily at 10 a.m.
Experience Portland the green and eco-friendly way. This award-winning walk clarifies why Portland is regularly recognized as one of the best places to live. By the end of our walk, you'll want to move here too. You’ll hear about early and modern Portland as your guide shows you an enlightened city rich with artwork, parks, bridges, (free) downtown trains & streetcars, fountains and friendly people. Even locals are amazed and entertained by what they learn. This walk meanders through the most fascinating portions of the city, leading eventually to the waterfront.
This tour earned us the Best Tour from Citysearch and Willamette Week’s award for “Best Way to Fake Being a Native.” And don’t forget the camera for your shot of the world’s smallest park! When the City of Portland and the Portland Oregon Visitors Association want to show off the city, they send people on this tour. Come see why. More info
Download the Oregon cash incentives brochure for a quick look at all of the incentives available for your home.
Energy Trust of Oregon offers the following cash incentives to help homeowners who are Oregon customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas make energy-saving home improvements. All improvements, except installation of attic/ceiling, knee wall and floor insulation and electric water heaters, must be installed in Oregon by an Energy Trust trade ally contractor, or any other licensed contractor with a current Oregon Construction Contractors Board license. Potential Oregon Department of Energy tax credits for all improvements are also listed.
For over 40 years, Earth Day—April 22—has inspired and mobilized individuals and organizations worldwide to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. PLEDGE AN ACT OF GREEN
April 21, 2011
09:00 AM – 04:30 PM
Oregon Convention Center
777 NE MLK Blvd. Portland, OR
This event offers a tradeshow in the Smart Grid Pavilion, complete with booths and exhibits from participating companies in the Smart Grid Industry, along with a track of conference sessions and roundtables led by industry speakers and experts.
* Learn about the breadth of the Smart Grid Industry in the NW
* Meet local companies and utilities who are involved
* Hear about trends, technologies, standards, policy and progress in bringing Smart Grid solutions to the marketplace
Smart Grid Oregon is a trade association that will enable, promote, and grow the smart grid industry and infrastructure in the State of Oregon.
An effective smart grid doesn’t happen on its own. Whether you and your organization build, use, advocate for, or directly benefit from the smart grid, your membership in Smart Grid Oregon will help Oregon’s smart grid industry grow and prosper. Your involvement in Smart Grid Oregon will also help make Oregon one of the nation’s leaders in realizing the many exciting possibilities the smart grid holds for our collective energy future.
To our knowledge, Smart Grid Oregon is the first state smart grid trade association in the U.S. While our initial focus will be Oregon, Smart Grid Oregon will seek other appropriate opportunities and partners within the Pacific Northwest and beyond to expand our reach and promote the smart grid. Link
March Residential Highlights
While sales activity was down in March 2011 compared with March 2010, activity increased compared to the previous month of February 2011. Additionally, inventory in the Portland metro region was 0.7 months lower than March 2010, reaching the lowest inventory level for the area since May 2010. Closed sales were down 10.2% in March 2011 compared to March 2010. Pending sales were down 16.2%, and new listings dropped 38.7%. See residential highlights table below. Comparing February 2011 with March 2011, closed sales jumped from 1,074 to 1,615 (50.4%). Pending sales also increased from 1,592 to 2,014 (26.5%). New listings grew from 2,883 to 3,056 (6%). At the month’s rate of sales, the 11,458 active residential listings would last about 7.1 months.
Sale Prices
Average sale price for March 2011 declined 6.8% compared to March 2010. Median sale price also fell 10%. See residential highlights table below. Month to month, comparing February 2011 to March 2011, sale prices increased. Average sale price went up from $244,500 to $261,100 (6.8%) while median sale price also increased from $213,700 to $215,000 (0.6%).
First Quarter Report
Comparing the first quarter of 2011 with the same period in 2010, sales activity was down. Closed sales decreased by 1.5% (3,834 v. 3,892). Pending sales went down by 11.9% (4,915 v. 5,576), and new listings fell 29.8% (9,172 v. 13,072). Additionally, the average sale price fell 9.2% ($252,800 v. $278,300), and the median sale price dropped 9.5% ($215,000 v. $237,500).
Ford named Portland among its top 25 most electric vehicle-ready cities Wednesday, praising the region’s cooperation, utility support and streamlined permitting. In November, Ford officially named Portland one of the launch cities for its all-electric Ford Focus, due out later this year. Other of Ford's EV-ready cities include Seattle, Denver, San Francisco and Sacramento, along with many of the U.S. major metro areas such as New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas. Ford didn’t rank its list by relative readiness, but Mike Tinskey, manager of vehicle electrification and infrastructure, said Portland was near the top of the list.
“Portland is most progressive in its actions and what other cities are doing is replicating what Portland is doing,” Tinskey said.
Ford works closely with Portland General Electric, having signed a formal memorandum of understanding to work on electric vehicle infrastructure last year. Specifically, Tinskey praised Oregon's minor label program, which allows for streamlined and batch permitting of electric vehicle charging stations. "That's a model that other states are looking at," Tinskey said. Other factors highlighted by Ford include the City of Portland’s approval of a comprehensive strategy for electric vehicle adoption and the active participation of PGE on infrastructure for EVs. Tinksey said all-electric Ford Focus cars should start arriving in Portland in December. “We think we’ll sell thousands of them per year,” Tinskey said. How many thousands? He expects the number to be driven in part by the price of gas. Tinskey explained that the electric Focus will be built on the same assembly line as the gas-powered Focus, giving Ford the flexibility to ramp production of each model up or down depending on the market. Source
Need Corporate Hiring To Continue
First quarter commercial real estate market fundamentals in 2011 continued their improvement over 2010. This will come as no surprise to anyone who understands that commercial real estate demand is derived from activity in the overall economy. As the economy goes, so go commercial real estate fundamentals.
Office Market
According to CoStar’s first quarter reports, the office market saw a positive net absorption of 8.8 million square feet of office space. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of positive net absorption with almost 48 million square feet added over the last 12 months. For comparison, the previous twelve months saw the market lose 28.8 million square feet.
Office vacancy rates held steady at 12.6 percent, even in the face of a slight rise in new deliveries.
CoStar’s quarterly reports also show that office rental rates turned slightly downward after a fourth quarter rise, which was the first in 10 quarters. With office construction at a record 10-year low, there is no denying that an increase in corporate hiring would accelerate the strengthening of office market fundamentals.
Retail Market
CoStar is also showing a positive net absorption of 10.1 million square feet of retail space in the first quarter of this year. A total of 65 million square feet was added during the last 12 months, which is more than four times the amount added in the previous twelve months. Even with major retailers like Borders and K-Mart closing up big box stores around the country, the retail vacancy rates continued their decline, dropping to 7.1 percent, down from the market high of 7.4% in 2009.
Thankfully, retail space deliveries resumed their decline after increasing in the fourth quarter, falling 50 percent from their first quarter 2010 level and rental rates continued their decline albeit at a slower pace. Read more
