Housing data

An independent review of VHFA’s single-family home loan portfolio shows property values increased by 24 percent compared to values at time of purchase.

The median increase in individual home values in VHFA’s portfolio was 14 percent.

“During this recession we’ve heard a lot about homes dropping in value, but properties in VHFA’s portfolio are doing well. This is evidence of the fiscal strength of the Agency,” said Executive Director Sarah Carpenter.

We noticed that Vermont's largest city ended up on two lists at CNN.com recently.

Burlington ranks #4 on CNN's list of cities with the lowest number of foreclosures: 1 in 8,006 housing units.

Elsewhere on the site, the Queen City's listed as having the 23rd highest rental rates anywhere in the country.

According to the quarterly National Delinquency Survey conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association, Vermont is faring better than most states in terms of delinquencies and foreclosures.

Only six states have a lower rate of serious delinquency and only 15 have a lower rate of loans in foreclosure, as of June 30, 2009.

This survey is estimated to cover approximately 85 percent of all first-lien mortgages outstanding.

The Center for Research on Vermont is presenting a free seminar for data professionals this month: Research-in-Progress Seminar #222: "Counting Vermont in the 21st  Century: The 2010 Census and Changes to Data on Our State and Communities."

Today's Wall Street Journal article "Vermont Mortgage Laws Shut The Door on Bust — and Boom" examines Vermont's low rate of foreclosure and attributes it, in part, to banking regulations and land use practices.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (formerly the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight [OFHEO]) announced its first quarter 2009 home sale appreciation index in May.

This is a good data source because it measures true appreciation — meaning same house price changes — instead of tracking median sales prices.

Vermont

Excerpt taken from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's "Multifamily Property Managers' Satisfaction with Service Coordination" report:

A recent study evaluated the level of satisfaction among property managers with the provision of service coordination that links residents of HUD-assisted, multifamily housing to needed supportive services.

The Center for Housing Policy today released a report that shows Burlington, Vermont, is the 33rd most expensive metropolitan area in the country for housing rentals.

For homeownership, Burlington ties with Sacramento, Calif., as the 56th most expensive in the nation.

(San Francisco takes top "honors" on both lists.)

We made two updates to the Vermont Housing Data Web site this week.

On Monday we did a regularly-scheduled update of the Directory of Affordable Rental Housing (DoARH).

The DoARH is a searchable database of all subsidized rental housing in the state.

Vermonters who rent their homes live in the 15th most expensive state in the nation for renters, according to a new report.

"Out of Reach 2008-2009" was released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, D.C.-based housing advocacy group, and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition.