Despite reports of lower housing prices associated with the recent economic recession, housing affordability has continued to worsen, particularly for the nation’s working and lower income renters, according to several reports released recently.
Aging baby boomers will change the housing market in ways that have never been experienced before, according to a new report on demographic effects on U.S. housing markets from the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The report projects the extent of new unprecedented demands for affordable, accessible housing from the 65+ population. It also describes the impact of seniors on the supply of housing, as they vacate their homes. Although many of their homes will be purchased by younger people, the number of homes left by the baby boom may well exceed the demand from younger potential buyers, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest.
Do you have ideas about the best measures of Chittenden County's progress toward sustainability? In the initial stage of the county's ECOS (Environment. Community. Opportunity.
According to annual housing vacancy statistics compiled by the Census Bureau, the estimated statewide rental vacancy rate fell in Vermont from 6.1% in 2010 to 4.2% in 2011--the lowest in the nation, with the exception of Oregon. Nationally, the rental vacancy rate was 9.5% in 2011.
Vermont's owner vacancy rate remained about the same in 2011 at 1.7%. The national owner vacancy rate was 2.5%.
Review the Census reports.
Like the rest of New England, 3.8 percent of Vermont's home mortgages were in foreclosure as of December 31, 2011, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association National Delinquency Survey.
The portion of Vermont mortages in foreclosure rose fairly dramatically compared to prior months. Between September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2011, this rate increased more in Vermont than in any other state.
According to a recent study, requiring down payments of at least ten percent is less likely to prevent a mortgage from defaulting than other measures, such as requiring borrower income documentation and prohibiting hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages with “teaser payments”.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina’s Center for Responsible Lending used national level data to examine the effect of various requirements on borrowers’ access to mortgage credit and on the number of defaults they would be likely to prevent.
Most of the metropolitian areas in the United States with the least expensive sales prices for single-family homes in the first quarter of 2011 are in the mid-west, according to a National Association of Realtors study covered by the Washington Post.
See the Post's photo gallery of the ten least expensive cities to buy a home.
About 30 Burlington residents gathered at Contois Auditorium last night in the first of a series of public engagement sessions to help plan the future of the city's downtown and waterfront areas.
Updated facts about mobile home parks now available from the Vermont Department of Community Affairs include:
Read more about Vermont's mobile home parks.
A recent report shows that homeowners who received foreclosure mitigation counseling were nearly twice as likely to obtain a mortgage modification and at least 67 percent more likely to remain current on their mortgage nine months after receiving one. This not only helped stabilize the homeowners who would have otherwise lost their home, but also saved servicers considerable time and expense.