High housing demand seen in Portland area
The recent construction of 850 housing units to sell and 450 rental units falls short of the 6,000 new housing units — two-thirds for sale and 2,000 rentals — estimated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as being needed in the next three years in York, Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties.
The topic was the subject of a recent forum hosted by the Portland City Council’s newly formed housing committee that was established to discuss challenges and strategies in the housing market, according to the Portland Press Herald.
“We’re certainly feeling the heat of being a very attractive and popular region,” said Jill Duson, chair of the housing committee.
Potential zoning changes in commercial corridors, the impact of new development on existing neighborhoods and aging housing stock were among the points discussed.
As reported earlier this year by Mainebiz, Portland's popularity is backed up by several southern Maine forecasts from the Maine Real Estate & Development Association's annual conference.
The city's real estate metrics in 2015 continued to be exceptionally strong. Downtown Class A vacancies were at 4.52%, the lowest in seven years; retail had a 3.6% vacancy rate compared to 12.6% nationally and for multi-unit residential units, there are 1,134 new apartments in the pipeline with 269 units currently under construction.
Brit Vitalius of Vitalius Real Estate Group, a speaker at the MEREDA conference, said that it's an influx of out-of-state young urban professionals, retiring baby boomers and young families choosing urban life over the suburbs driving the boom in Portland's multi-unit housing market.
"We are attractive to the rest of the world, but it seems we've particularly got a connection with Brooklyn," Vitalius quipped during his address at the conference.
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