The BDN is exploring Maine’s housing disaster from each attainable angle, from the way it impacts dwelling costs, to what it means for Mainers throughout the state. Learn our ongoing protection right here and fill out this way to inform us what you need to know.
In a housing market that has quite a few house owners with a long time of dwelling possession, a Bangor bed room neighborhood stands almost alone.
Greater than 17 % of house owners in Maine have lived on their properties since 1989 or earlier. However in Glenburn, that charge is simply 4 %, based on 2020 American Neighborhood Survey knowledge. That’s the bottom for any Maine neighborhood with 500 folks or extra.
The dearth of legacy householders showcases the suburban progress that Bangor, in addition to Portland, have seen in recent times as folks migrate to areas with more room outdoors metropolis facilities. The biggest inflow in Glenburn got here from 2000 to 2009, when over 44 % of present householders moved in in contrast with 29 % statewide.
As late as 1960, Glenburn had fewer than 1,000 folks. However the metropolis noticed an exponential rise in inhabitants from 1960 to 2010, growing by greater than 3,600 folks. The last decade from 2010 to 2020 noticed a smaller improve of simply 54 folks, or 1 % of the inhabitants.
Simply northwest of Bangor, Glenburn is the fifth-largest city in Penobscot County and the eighth-largest municipality, with 4,600 folks as of the 2020 U.S. Census. The median age of 38 is almost seven years youthful than in the remainder of Maine. Many who dwell within the city work in Bangor.
However Glenburn has perks of its personal. Stephen Overlock, a 30-year-old logistics dealer, owns a house in additional rural Bradford however purchased a $326,000 dwelling in Glenburn earlier this month to be “nearer to city” and in order that his four-year-old son may attend Glenburn Elementary Faculty.
Whereas he didn’t discover it tough to purchase the house, he has little doubt that the acquisition would have been inexpensive in previous years. However it appeared honest for the market, much more so than different properties he mentioned have been listed for greater than they have been value primarily based on age and measurement.
That appears to be borne out by knowledge. The typical residential property in Glenburn was priced round $256,000 this yr. That’s up from $229,000 in 2021 and $170,000 in 2020. A complete of 196 residential properties have been offered in Glenburn since March 2020, the month that the COVID-19 pandemic started, at a median value of $202,500.
Earlier this month, Glenburn noticed its third-most costly residential property sale on report. A pair purchased a three-bedroom, 2.4-acre property for $515,000, which was $16,000 over the asking value after 49 days in the marketplace.
Overlock’s property is on 2 acres, however he has the choice of buying extra land from the vendor, who owns 100 acres in whole within the neighboring lot. He purchased it for round $7,000 over asking value after it had been in the marketplace for 2 months.
“Loopy to assume, however two years in the past this dwelling would have offered for round $220,000,” Overlock mentioned.
