Housing data

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. 

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.

The Vermont Housing Data website is back on-line, after a short outage due to problems with our off-site host.   We regret the inconvenience.

In response to the need for temporary and long-term housing after Tropical Storm Irene, we've added a new feature to the Vermont Housing Data website to help residents quickly view on-line lists of apartments for rent across the state.  The new "portal", accessible directly from th

Public policy efforts in Massachusetts in the 1990s to reduce children’s exposure to lead generated “modest but statistically significant improvements in test performance in the 2000s, with particular benefits for children in low-income communities,”  according to a recent report.  The study was conducted by the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

There's a new local survey of employers asking about housing’s availability, condition and affordability and its impact on their ability to attract and retain workers.

After one year of entering into a contract with the Agency of Human Services to cover the after-hours emergency housing assistance, more than 1,300 calls were received by Vermont 2-1-1.  Of these requests for after-hours emergency housing, 329 callers were eligible for housing assistance.  Alternate shelter was found for 451 of the remaining 1,015 callers who did not qualify for emergency housing.  The majority of requests for emergency housing are from single individuals.

Vermont's econonomy outperformed the U.S. during the past 12 months, with tax revenues that exceeded projections by 2.5%.  Nevertheless, state economists cautioned the legislature and administration of the risks here in Vermont should national policy makers fail to reach an agreement about raising the U.S. debt ceiling. 

Research shows a new way of considering the impact of rising house prices: higher prices mean higher incomes for existing homeowners’ children as they age. Unfortunately, the increase in prices also reduces the earning levels of renter’s children in the future.