Today's story on the front of the Burlington Free Press, "Census sense: Housing, population data in Chittenden County crisscross," tells us what a lot of people working with housing data already knew: Numbers can be difficult to interpret.
Writer Joel Banner Baird ponders housing numbers that seem to be growing faster than population.
In addition to analysis in the article, from, among others, Center for Rural Studies' Chip Sawyer, a partner with VHFA in the Vermont Housing Data Web site, VHFA Research Analyst Leslie Black-Plumeau suggests the state's slightly higher owner and renter vacancy rates could also help account for some of the perceived discrepancy.
Bottom line is this: All statistics need to be examined closely before anything can be inferred from them.
VHFA staff such as Leslie are experts at using and interpreting housing data and are familiar with Vermont's housing markets. We're always available to field questions if communities want to better understand what might be influencing their results.