Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau showed a 1.5 percent decline in median household household income in 2011 relative to the prior year. Despite this decline at the middle, income levels among the top 10 percent increased, contributing to growing income inequality nationwide.
The median price of primary homes sold in Vermont in January through June was $197,800—up slightly from $195,000 in 2011, according to VHFA’s recent analysis of Vermont property transfer tax data.
Housing and real estate markets in both the U.S. and Vermont, as measured by home prices are probably close to or just past their "cyclical troughs", according to economists at Kavet, Rockler, and Associates.
Vermont was one of nineteen states that experienced positive year-over-year home price appreciation in the first quarter of 2102, according to the latest report from the economists.
Despite improvements in many indicators of child welfare such as the infant mortality rate and the preterm birth rate, a recent compilation of national statistics shows a dramatic increase in housing cost burden in the past decade among families with children.
Vermont has many fair housing achievements under its belt but there is still more work to do, according to the recent statewide look at impediments to fair housing choice. The 2012 State of Vermont Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice identifies 12 public sector and 2 private sector impediments.
Vermont’s population continued to grow slowly in 2011, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of estimated Vermonters inched up by about 500 to 625,909 between 2010 and 2011.
State population growth is caused by net in-migration (i.e. more people moving in then out of a state) and by natural forces (i.e. more births than deaths among existing residents).
The U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a comprehensive report on the effectiveness of a variety of types of foreclosure mitigation efforts. About 4 million single-family mortgages were modified in the U.S. between 2009 and 2011 to help borrowers avoid foreclosure.
The number and percentage of shared households increased over the course of the recent national recession, according to a report released last month by the Census Bureau. A “shared household” is a household which includes at least one additional adult who is not a student, spouse, or partner of the primary household head.
Yet again VHFA has topped all other states in using Housing Tax Credits – a program designed to serve low income households earning up to 60 percent of the area’s median income (AMI) – for extremely low income households earning less than 30 percent of the AMI. 65 percent of Vermont’s credits served extremely low income households, compared to a national average of just 9 percent.
The average single-family house completed in the U.S. in 2011 was 2,480 square feet, compared to 2,392 the year before, according to results of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction released recently. The tidbits below as well as many other types of information about new homes are available on the U.S.