Home prices in once-affordable Maine have doubled in a decade — shutting out locals

Maine’s housing market is cooked, and not in a fresh lobster kind of way. 

The state that once offered some of the most affordable coastal real estate on the East Coast has quietly transformed into one of the hottest housing markets in the country, with median home prices surging 111% over the past decade, from around $193,000 in 2016 to roughly $407,000 today, according to a new analysis from Construction Coverage. 

That puts Maine third nationally for home price growth, trailing only Idaho and New Hampshire.

Portland, the state’s crown jewel, has been hit hardest. 

The coastal city’s median home value rocketed from $263,000 to $558,000 in just 10 years, a 112% spike that added nearly $300,000 to the price of a typical home.

For context, home values nationally rose about 81% over the same stretch, meaning Maine’s market has blown past the rest of the country by a wide margin.

The culprits are familiar and include razor-thin inventory, a flood of remote workers escaping Boston and New York, and an insatiable appetite for Maine’s brand of scenic, slower-paced living.

The pandemic turbocharged all of it. Suddenly, everyone wanted a saltbox house near the water, easy access to hiking trails, and a craft brewery within walking distance — Portland delivered on all counts.

But what’s a dream for out-of-state arrivals has become a nightmare for many locals. 

While home prices climbed about 110% over the last decade, median household incomes rose only 53%, according to Construction Coverage, which drew on data from Zillow, the US Census Bureau, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The math simply doesn’t work for the people who have lived there longest.

“In 2015, the median income in Maine exceeded by 21% what was needed to afford the median home price in the state,” a report from MaineHousing said. “This is no longer the case.”

Younger buyers and first-timers are feeling it the most, forced to compete against cash buyers and well-heeled transplants who can outbid them without blinking.