Link to Full Article

PDF of Full Article

September 23, 2011

The recession’s longstanding toll on the incomes of Vermont households is shown clearly in estimates released by the Census Bureau yesterday.   The median income of a household in the state dropped to $49,406 in 2010 from $51,618 in 2009.   The poverty rate among Vermont households rose to 12.7% up from 11.4% in 2009.    Poverty among the state’s children rose particularly high–to an alarming 16.7% in 2010 up from 13.3% in 2009.

Across the nation, poverty rose in 49 of the 50 states.    In total, 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty in 2010– the highest number in the 52 years the Census Bureau has been publishing figures on it.  Median household incomes across the country fell to levels last seen in 1996.

The Census Bureau has recently released the results of two national surveys pertaining to household income and poverty–the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey

New Estimates About Characteristics of Vermont Households Released

September 22, 2011

The Census Bureau released new estimates today that provide information about the characteristics of residents and homes in Vermont and its counties in 2010.    These estimates are based on the annual American Community Survey (ACS), which asks a sample of Vermonters questions about their home and the household members living there.

While the decenniel Census provided counts of people and households, ACS estimates provide valuable information about the characteristics of Vermont residents.

Here’s a sample of the types of information collected through the ACS:

• § Total monthly housing costs
• § Household income
• § Type of home heating fuel
• § Age of the household members

VHFA’s researchers are available to speak to members of the media about ACS data pertaining to Vermont’s housing market and the housing situations of low- and moderate-income people.  Inquiries may be directed to Research and Communications Coordinator, Leslie Black-Plumeau

We’re currently reviewing the data and will share highlights as we complete our analyses.

Access the ACS 2010 estimates.

Due to the small size of the ACS sample in some Vermont communities, data users are advised to carefully consider the error ranges provided by the Census Bureau with each estimate.

Photo: Maura Collins of the Vermont Housing Finance Authority stands next to a home for sale on Myrtle Street in Burlington on Thursday. / GLENN RUSSELL, Free Press

“While much of the rest of the nation faces a double dip in single-family home prices, with sales of foreclosed and bank-owned properties pushing prices below previous lows in March 2009, Vermont is once again the exception to the rule, as it was in the foreclosure crisis.

“Our experience has certainly been more favorable than the national trends in terms of pricing,” said Steve Allen of Allen & Brooks, Inc., a real estate advisory firm in South Burlington. “We did see nominal declines from say, 2006 to 2009, but in 2010 the median price regained that ground.”

Allen said the median price of a single-family house in Chittenden County was up 4 percent in 2010 to $265,000, although it has dropped to $256,000 in 2011 according to statistics through April 30. That’s down about 3.5 percent, moving it back closer to the 2009 median value of $255,000. Allen attributes the uptick in median price in 2010 to stricter lending requirements that eliminated many of the buyers in the low end of the housing market, shifting a larger proportion of sales to more expensive houses, and boosting the median price.

For the remainder of 2011, Allen & Brooks is forecasting low overall sales volume of single-family homes in Chittenden County, with stable pricing, but the potential for declines in price of up to 5 percent. Meanwhile, a recent report from California-based Clear Capital, which advises large financial services companies on the real estate market nationwide, reported that national home prices have fallen 11.5 percent over the previous nine-month period, “a rate of decline not experienced since 2008.”

The double dip nationally has seen home prices fall 0.7 percent below prior lows in March 2009. Also, the proportion of total sales that are bank-owned, or REO, sales – 34.5 percent nationally — is a particular cause for concern, according to Clear Capital, because it weighs down prices.

Along with relatively stable prices, Vermont has one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the country — 3.3 percent compared with 8.3 percent nationwide — according to Lender Processing Services Mortgage Performance Data.

Maura Collins, policy and planning manager for the Vermont Housing Finance Authority, said Vermont’s reliance on community banks, which remained careful in their lending practices when bigger banks and mortgage companies were playing fast and loose with underwriting guidelines, helped Vermont avoid the foreclosure mess. She credited “Yankee conservatism” with making Vermonters suspicious of loan products they didn’t understand.

“It’s also our rural demographics,” Collins said. “We weren’t a prime market for subprime lending. We were the fourth lowest state for originations of subprime loans. We don’t have urban centers or minority populations, some of the characteristics predatory lenders preyed upon.”

Collins said that while she doesn’t see a double dip in Vermont, housing prices continue to fall in most of the state outside of Chittenden County.

“In 2010, we found the statewide median price of a home recovered by 2 percent, but when you look at the broader picture, prices are still falling in most of the state,” Collins said…”

Full Article: Vermont’s housing market stuck in a holding pattern

PDF of Article: Vermont’s housing market stuck in a holding pattern

“NEW YORK — Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, and the average prices in four of them are at their lowest point in 11 years.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday shows price declines in 19 cities from December to January. Eleven of them are at their lowest level since the housing bust, in 2006 and 2007. The index fell for the sixth straight month.

Home values in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Detroit and Cleveland are now below January 2000 levels.

The only market where prices rose was Washington, where homes prices gained 0.1 percent month over month.

“The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.

The pain is not uniform, however. It is worse in cities where foreclosures and short sales are dominating the market and pushing home prices down. That includes Detroit and Cleveland, which are struggling with weak local economies. Miami, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Atlanta are reeling from overbuilding during the housing boom…”

Full Story: Home prices falling in most major U.S. cities

PDF of Story: Home prices falling in most major U.S. cities

The Housing Market Profile for the Burlington-South Burlington, Vermont metropolitan area is now published in HUD’s U.S. Housing Market Conditions. Please note that there was an editors’ mistake.  The population listed in the report should read as the Decennial Census population for the area as of April 1, 2010. For a brief description of the results, read below.

The profile talks about shifts in the area’s population, job market and housing market. HUD reports that the number of home  and condominium sales are rising above the 2009 levels, but are still below the 2004 levels. The median home price has remained relatively steady for the past years, with slight recent increases.  They also said that single-family homebuilding is on a slight increase as well.

Although home ownership is on a slight increase, the rental market in the Burlington/S.Burlington area remains tight. The HUD profile sites the reason for this as: “limited new additions to the inventory and growing student demand.” To view the Housing Market Profile, click here: HUD Profile – Burlington-S Burlington VT.

In the coming months, there will be a more comprehensive Housing Market Review available.  There is also a new Regional page on HUD user:  http://www.huduser.org/portal/Regional.html.  At this website, you can find Housing Market Profiles for New England metropolitan areas, quarterly regional economic reports, and general HUD information.  Within the “Market at a Glance” link, there is a mix of economic data related to the Burlington-South Burlington metropolitan area and to Vermont counties.