Buying in Hazelwood: the cheapest square footage in Portland that is also moving
The short version
Hazelwood sold 218 homes in the twelve months to late August 2026, at a $400,000 median and $278 a square foot. That is the second-lowest price per square foot of any Portland neighborhood moving 150 homes or more — only Pleasant Valley came in cheaper.
The six-month trend is +10.0%.
Cheap and flat is the normal shape of an affordable neighborhood. Cheap and moving is a different thing, and on 218 sales the movement is real rather than a handful of unusual closings.
Source: Multnomah County recorded sales, September 2025 through August 2026, residential property classes and warranty deeds only. Pulled 14 September 2026; county recording lags closings by about three weeks, so the window effectively ends 24 August.
Where it is
Outer east Portland, roughly between Burnside and Division and from about 102nd out past 148th. Gateway sits at its northwest corner, Mall 205 and Adventist Health Portland inside it.
The housing is mixed in a way most Portland neighborhoods are not: post-war single-storey houses on ordinary lots, sitting alongside genuine apartment density along the arterials. That mix is why the median and the price per foot can both sit low while volume stays high — there is simply more to buy here, at more price points, than in a uniformly single-family neighborhood.
The transit argument, stated plainly
Gateway Transit Center is where the MAX Blue, Green and Red lines meet. For a buyer whose calculation includes getting downtown or to the airport without a second car, no other neighborhood at this price point has that.
That is the substantive case for Hazelwood over the cheaper outer-southeast options, and it is worth being honest that it is a corridor argument rather than a whole-neighborhood one. A house at 148th and Market is not a ten-minute walk from a train. Check the specific address against the actual walk, not the neighborhood name.
What the +10% does and doesn't tell you
It tells you demand found this neighborhood over the last six months. On 218 sales that is a trustworthy signal, not composition noise.
It does not tell you the next six months look like the last six. And it does change the buying posture: a neighborhood moving at this rate has less negotiating slack than one sitting flat, which is the trade against somewhere like Powellhurst-Gilbert a couple of miles south.
Three things to check before you write
What you are actually buying into. Hazelwood's density mix means the house two doors down may be an apartment building. That is fine, and it is information — go and look at the block at 6pm on a weekday, not just at the listing.
The school district. Most of Hazelwood is David Douglas or Parkrose rather than Portland Public. Confirm for the specific address.
Condition on post-war stock. Original electrical, original sewer laterals, and heating systems at or past the end of their lives are common at this age and price. Budget the inspection properly — a sewer scope and a real look at the panel, not just a general inspection.
Where this fits
Hazelwood is the transit-connected end of a set of outer-east neighborhoods that also includes Foster-Powell and Mt. Scott-Arleta to the south. If you are deciding between neighborhoods rather than between houses, our framework for evaluating an emerging Portland neighborhood is the method rather than the answer.
Address-level zoning, permit history and hazard designation is public: PortlandMaps.
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