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Technology companies are continuing to expand in Portland, taking up limited office space and driving up rents, according to a third-quarter market report released last week by Jones Lang LaSalle.

鈥淥ffice vacancy in Portland is at 10 percent 鈥� the lowest it’s been since 2000,鈥� said Patricia Raicht, JLL’s vice president of research. 鈥淭ech demand continues to dominate our office leasing activity with tech occupiers making up more than 30 percent of all office demand, up from just 14 percent in 2011.鈥�

According to data from Greater Portland Inc., Portland has 86,000 high-tech workers. That’s 30 percent more than the national average.

Raicht said limited supply is driving up rents in the Central Business District. Overall, office space rents are up 3.7 percent year over year, and specific submarkets have experienced increases significantly greater.

鈥淒evelopers and occupiers (are) finding unique and creative ways to meet their space needs,鈥� JLL Senior Vice President Eric Haskins said. 鈥淥wners are repositioning their buildings with amenities and features desired by tech tenants 鈥� they want a rich amenity set.鈥�

Some of those amenities, Haskins said, are updated lobbies, athletic facilities and showers, bike parking, outdoor spaces and a strong component of sustainability.

Owners are not only remodeling office spaces, but also increasing new construction in the Portland area, Raicht said.

鈥淭here is now 780,000 square feet under construction, and we expect 400,000 square feet to deliver to the market in 2014,鈥� she said.

Brad Christiansen, a Colliers International vice president, said he believes that a combination of affordability, an educated workforce and Portland’s culture are drawing companies to open offices in the area.

鈥淥n a macro level all the things our leadership program began promoting years ago 鈥� smart urban growth, good quality of life, emphasis on education 鈥� are all in alignment with what millennials value,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s a unique dynamic that we have an alignment between the culture here combined with a lower cost of living and an educated workforce that we didn’t have 15 years ago.鈥�

Christiansen said larger tech companies are looking to Portland rather than Seattle or San Francisco in part because though rents are on the rise, they’re still far less than in either of those cities. Not only is office space more affordable, but apartments are too, comparatively.

鈥淚’m hearing from companies that when they’re opening an office here they’re internally having a portion of their employee base ask for a transfer (here),鈥� Christiansen said. 鈥淚 see the trend of tech companies coming to Portland continuing as the cost of doing business continues to go up.鈥�

When companies look to open an office in Portland they’re able to hire well-educated, high-quality people at a fraction of the salary they’d have to pay in a larger market, Christiansen said.

鈥淭hey come here and they see the proximity to schools like Portland State (University), which has one of the top graphic design programs in the country, or Pacific University,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here’s Oregon State (University), where they have great mechanical and structural engineering programs. Those skills are transferable to the tech industry.鈥�

Paige Morgan, a senior vice president at JLL, said her firm is seeing institutional and even foreign interest in Portland’s real estate market increase.

鈥淚nterest in Portland as an investment market has increased dramatically in the past several years with buyer pools deepening,鈥� she said. 鈥淭wo things are driving this increased interest; the first is the flood of capital that is being priced out of primary markets, and the second is our solid and improving market fundamentals.鈥�