Corvallis Housing Survey Results

Many of you possibly took part in the recent survey regarding housing in and around Corvallis. For those of you who enjoy wading through pages and pages of data here is the link to the complete survey report. The official results are not completed yet but below is a recap of some interesting findings. Again, these are not official conclusions, only observations from a fellow survey participant. :) Stay tuned for official results from the Survey Committee and for the compilation of open-ended responses.

Purpose of the Corvallis Housing Survey:

"The City of Corvallis recognizes both the need to both understand local housing markets and housing need as well as implementing strategies to address the housing needs of Corvallis residents. Like many Oregon cities, Corvallis has found meeting the housing needs of all of its residents to be challenging. For a variety of reasons, Corvallis has higher housing costs than neighboring cities in the Willamette Valley. The characteristics of Corvallis’ housing market are different from other cities in the Willamette Valley. A few basic indicators of Corvallis’ housing market with other Willamette Valley cities underscore the key differences:

1. Corvallis has more rental and more multifamily units. Corvallis’ housing is much more likely to be renter-occupied, even when compared to Eugene. Corvallis has a much larger share of multifamily dwellings than other cities.
2. Corvallis’ housing is less affordable. The median sales price for single-family housing is substantially higher than other cities, except for Eugene, where average sales prices are somewhat lower than Corvallis’. The ratio of median sales price to median household income is higher in Corvallis than other cities, with sales prices more than six times household income.

The [survey] questions build from the assumption that there is a need to better balance housing supply with housing demand. [Results show that] nearly twice as many people commute to Corvallis to work as live in Corvallis and work elsewhere. The inflow/outflow of workers and residents is commonly referred to in the planning literature as “jobs-housing balance.” The factors that lead to jobs-housing imbalances are many. A core objective of this study is to better understand the characteristics of the 18,000+ individuals who commute to work in Corvallis that live outside the Corvallis city limit. In summary, the central question addressed in this survey was “Why do Corvallis workers choose to live in other places?”"

Charts and Summaries:

Some things to note before looking at the data...

1. The data shows housing preferences for survey respondents who work in Corvallis but choose to live outside of Corvallis.
2. The result conclusions focus on respondents who live outside of Corvallis, however it presents results of respondents living inside of Corvallis to provide context for the results.
3. 49% of respondents live within the Corvallis city limits and 50% of respondents live outside of the Corvallis city limits. 1% were uncertain. 
4. Because a non-probability sampling method (for more information on this type of sampling check out wikipedia) was used, the results presented are for the sample only and should not be inferred to be representative of the entire population. 
5. The sample size (1,681) is about 9% of the 18,476 individuals who work in Corvallis and live elsewhere.

Top Take-Aways:

• Although housing costs are similar - only about a $100 difference not including utilities - of respondents within and outside of Corvallis, the size of homes outside of Corvallis are very different. In general residents outside of Corvallis tend to have more bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage than residents in Corvallis. Meaning that for the same price they are getting more. It's not that residents are particularly looking to lower overall costs of housing by living outside of Corvallis but they want to get more for their investment. See exhibits 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13 above.

• The top reasons for living outside of Corvallis include: wanted more affordable housing, rural setting, wanted to own versus rent, good place to raise children, and wanted a larger home. Two of the top 5 reasons for choosing a current location to live had to do with home size or affordability which is directly related. Therefore the baseline cost of housing is not an issue but rather the cost per square foot is higher in Corvallis and not as desirable as other areas. See exhibit 15 above.

• "The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Services (HUD) estimates that the median family income (MFI) for Benton County in 2014 is $69,400. Using standard estimates of housing affordability, a household earning the MFI could afford to pay about $1,735 for housing per month or a house costing about $210,000. The median sales price for housing in Corvallis is nearly $270,000 in 2014. (based on median prices on Zillow). The median housing costs for survey respondents who rented and lived inside Corvallis was $1,150, including rent and utilities. According to the American Community Survey, the median rent in Corvallis is about $790." Corvallis is less affordable than surrounding communities. To be able to buy/rent an average home in Corvallis, assuming the family does not spend more than 30% of their gross income on housing costs, the resident more than likely will need to make more than the median family income for Benton County, thus making buying/renting a residence in Corvallis difficult for those who make the MFI or less.  See exhibits 24 and 25 above.

• Homeowners outside of Corvallis living in larger homes are more likely to be able to afford housing costs in Corvallis but it seems that they feel they will be making sacrifices on preferred location within the city, higher tax costs, and suitable condition of properties to get something comparably priced. See exhibit 40 above

Information taken from the Corvallis Housing Survey Report prepared by ECONorthwest. The full report and City Council agenda/meeting notes can be found here.