A study of housing development costs in cities throughout the Portland metro area conducted by the newly formed nonprofit Affordable Oregon has found the city of Portland is the most expensive in which to build.

The group’s study, dubbed the Local Government Accountability Project, examined fee schedules for housing development from 19 metro-area government jurisdictions. For purposes of the study, data was collected in six primary evaluation categories: systems development charges, permitting fees and charges, planning and engineering fees and charges, time to market estimates based on feedback from industry professionals, total combined cost of all categories, and the results of a building industry survey conducted by Affordable Oregon during the month of April.

“This effort is a massive undertaking that took hundreds of hours of labor, provided entirely by volunteers interested in what the LGAP would find once completed,” said Joe Keizur, executive director of Affordable Oregon. “We believe the results speak for themselves, and at a minimum show that local government is a major factor in the cost of a home and without reform to our current system, the cost of government on each home is likely to continue rising.”

When the 19 jurisdictions were ranked based on the six categories, Portland received the lowest score, making it the “single worst place for a builder/developer to do business in the Portland metro area,” according to the report.

Portland’s permits, fees, SDCs and interest carry due to delays will tack on $85,300 to the cost of a home, regardless of the structure’s size or final sale price, according to the study. That’s $20,000 more than the median cost of roughly $65,000 throughout the rest of the metro area.

West Linn is the next most expensive jurisdiction in the metro area, with a little more than $81,000 added to the cost of an average home. Beaverton, which tacks on roughly $71,000 per home, is the third most expensive in the rankings.

On the flip side, the most affordable jurisdiction in the metro area for homebuilders is the city of Milwaukie, with an average cost per home of $44,700 in fees permits and other costs. Other areas that ranked among the most affordable jurisdictions were Tualatin, Forest Grove, Troutdale and Gresham.

The entire report can be accessed .

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