Prices for single family homes have continued to rise this year, despite declining sales in recent months.
Maine’s affordable housing problem has been simmering for well over a decade, especially in coastal communities and more urban areas, like Portland.
While homeownership affordability data is not yet available for 2021, monthly reports from the Maine Association of Realtors indicate that prices have continued to rise over last year.
In November, the median sales prices for existing single family homes reached $300,000, an 11 percent increase from the $270,000 median price in November of last year, according to the Maine Realtors Association.
“Maybe in some markets it’s stabilized but it is stabilized at a high rate, which is not where we want to be.
The competitive real estate market has created trickle down problems in the state’s rental market, with renters who in normal circumstances might be shifting into the homeownership market being forced to stay put due to high prices.
As the pandemic has worsened the state’s affordable housing problem, Brennan said both the federal and state government have increased the amount of funding available to address the issue.