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Home prices increasingly unaffordable
The average price of single-family homes being in sold in Knox County continue to rise.
According to the state, this is making the purchase of a home increasingly out of reach for most households.
The median price of a home sold in Knox County between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30 rose 1.2 percent from a year ago, reaching $252,000, according to a news release issued Dec. 19 from Maine Listings.
The $252,000 during those three months this year compares to $249,000 for the same period in 2018, $202,500 in 2017, $222,250 in 2016, and $187,250 in 2015.
The median price in Knox County was the third highest price of any county in Maine, topped only by Cumberland which had a median price of $330,000, and York at $300,000. Aroostook County had the lowest median price at $95,000.
At the same time, the Maine State Housing Authority issued a report on housing affordability. For 2018 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- 64.5 percent of households in Knox County could not afford to buy a home at the median price.
To afford a median house in 2018, a Knox County household needed an income of $72,689 although in Camden a household would need an income of $116,411.
The Knox County community with the least affordable situation, according to Maine State Housing, was Cushing in which 81 percent of households could not afford to buy a median-priced home. In Camden, 72.6 percent could not afford such a home. And in Rockland, 59.1 percent of households could not buy a median-priced home.
Warren had the most affordable but still 41 percent of households were unable to afford a median-priced home.
Statewide, 56 percent of households are unable to afford a median-priced home.
The last time a household with a median income could afford a median-priced home in the area was in 2009 during the depth of the Great Recession when prices of properties plummeted. And before that, the last time was in 2000.
The number of single-family homes sold in Knox County during the past three months was 176. This is close to the numbers sold during the past three years for the same three months -- 185 in 2018, 184 in 2017, and 170 in 2016. In 2015, only 156 single-family homes sold during those three months.
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In the process of moving back to Knox county after 18 years, blows my mind the property taxes in some towns, Rockland isn't even an option with their property taxes.
Dale: My comment was meant to be ironic. City council has never successfully addressed affordable housing, especially as Rockland's gentrification increases exponentially.
Gotta have this article so that the new accessor has a valid reason to access our homes way above what they should be.
Smith House, Barter Block, Studley Apartments, the old Rankin Block, Willow Street, Stanley House, Rockland Hotel; among others; are all gone; one at a time; with nothing to replace them. Brunswick House has now gone out of sight for many to afford.
Rockland city council needs to take note of this info. as they address affordable housing in our city.
I can't even afford to drive through Camden.