Fall/Winter 2008-2009 Business Travel Guide

Real Estate Prices

“Real estate follows the financial markets,” says Tom Heney, Realtor, broker, and vice president of Lang McLaughry Spera Real Estate, Vermont’s largest agency and one of the largest in Northern New England. “You can see trends over the years. The big trends have followed some large economic movement, most recently, the big crash of the mortgage industry over the last 18 months.”

It’s not something that affected Vermont early, Heney continues, because it was driven by lending that was not common here. “Even though the papers say we have a 50 percent increase in foreclosures, we started out with the smallest percentage of them in the country, so the increase is relative.”

Early on, we were not seeing the effect of the crash here, but we now are feeling it, Heney says. In Chittenden County, the number of sales is 4 percent less; in Lamoille, they’re down 24 percent; Franklin County is down 27 percent; and Addison County is down 16 percent. “I think it’s much more related to consumer confidence than any one real local economic factor,” he says.

One reason Heney thinks we’re seeing less activity is, interestingly, because of rising gasoline prices. “With gas at $4-plus a gallon, people are less apt to go looking for properties in rural communities,” he says, adding that it’s hard to quantify yet, “unless you talk to agents in the field, but that’s exactly what’s going on, and you’ll see it six weeks from now in the numbers, when the closings don’t happen.”

From a June 2008 interview on changes in Vermont real estate industry. 

Washington county

For information contact the following: Central Vermont Board of Realtors: Ann Shangraw, association executive, 229-0611

*Note: It’s important to remember, when looking at average prices, especially in tiny markets, that one very large or very small sale can skew the numbers.