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Vermont housing facts
Vermont is facing a serious housing shortage, in large part because
we're not building enough new housing to meet the growing demand.
The problem is made worse because the shortage is driving up rents
and home prices. As a result, Vermont is actually one of the expensive
states in the nation when it comes to paying for housing. Building
more housing-and doing it in a way that respects our state's character
and environment-would not only ease the current shortage, but
provide economic benefits as well.
- The median purchase price of a primary home in Vermont in
2007 reached $201,000, a 2 percent increase from the previous
year and a 101 percent increase since 1996.
- A Vermont household would need an annual income of $65,000 as well as $14,000 in cash (for closing costs and a 5 percent down payment) to purchase that home. Sixty-five percent of Vermont’s households have incomes below $65,000.
- The median income for all Vermont’s households is $51,622. A household with that income could afford a home priced at about $158,000, assuming it has about $11,000 in cash for closing costs and down payment.
- The median price for a newly-constructed home in Vermont rose to $317,900 in 2007, a 13 percent increase from 2006. A household would need an annual income of about $103,000 and $21,000 for closing costs and down payment to afford that new home.
- The average Fair Market Rent for a modest, two-bedroom apartment in Vermont reached $836 in 2007, a 5 percent increase since the year before and a 49 percent increase since 1996.
- A Vermont household would have to earn $16.07 per hour, or
$33,342 annually, to afford that Fair Market Rent. At least
66 percent of Vermont’s non-farm employees — more than
178,868 people — work in occupations with median wages
below that level.
- Vermont had the second tightest rental housing market in the nation in 2007. The rental vacancy rate was 4.9 percent. The homeownership vacancy rate was 1.0 percent, the lowest in the nation. Vermont had a shortage of 21,000 affordable rental units as of the most recent statewide housing needs assessment in 2005. Our state will need 12,900 more owner-occupied units by 2012. The current pace of housing construction is nowhere near what would be necessary to fill those gaps.
- Vermont has the highest rate of homelessness in New England, and the length of time people spend in homeless shelters in Vermont is increasing rapidly. In 2000, the average stay was 11 days. In 2007, it was 33 days.
- Since the average person is staying longer, the total number of people Vermont’s shelters are able to serve is decreasing. The total number of people served by Vermont’s shelters fell to 3,463 in 2007 from 3,800 in 2006.
- In the annual one-night count of homeless Vermonters conducted in January 2007, 28 percent of the people staying in homeless shelters that night were under 18.
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© 2002-2008 Vermont
Housing Awareness Campaign. All rights reserved.
Contact: info@housingawareness.org
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