Baby boomers priced out of Nantucket or the Hamptons are increasingly buying homes on Vermont’s Lake Champlain, near the artsy city of Burlington.

This influx of affluent buyers is reviving a housing market that previously was flat, thanks to the number of young Vermonters who move out to seek jobs in bigger cities.

“Vermont real estate is a want, not a need,” says Bob McCafferty, an associate with Burlington real estate firm LandVest.. “People with money who are paying attention will see it is an opportune time because the market has been in the doldrums for the last year.”

Vermont was the only New England state to continue to see home values increase this year at more than 10 percent per quarter, compared to the prior year, according to the recent New England Economic Partnership report.

Kerry Mayo, research economist at Williston-based Economic & Policy Resources, says he expects to see the market slow down in 2007. “The supply and demand are pretty well in line in the more affordable housing range,” Mayo says. However, “there are a lot of higher-end ski properties that will decline.”

Source: BusinessWeek Online, Maya Roney (12/06/2006)

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Categories: Buying, Market Outlook, First Time Buyers, Relocation, Bennington, VT

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