Year-end (2012) MLS statistics for single-family homes show that Brattleboro home sales made solid gains in price, number of sales, and homes sold as a ratio of homes listed. Figures for number of sales in Windham County were also solidly up, but the rise in prices for the county was marginal.

While the number of Brattleboro homes sold was up by 22.5% from the previous year; for the county as a whole, the number of home sales was up 10.3%.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Comparing the rise in Brattleboro home prices with the county, there was a strong contrast. The median price for Brattleboro homes sold in 2012 was $177,500, up by 7.6% over the previous year’s median price of $165,000. But for Windham County as a whole: Median prices rose an anemic 1.5%, creeping from $182,225 in 2011 to $185,000 in 2012.

Why the disparity?

Statistics are, by their nature, aggregate figures. When a statistic goes up by 1.5%, it is not because everyone marched in lockstep, with each individual advancing by 1.5%. Some may have been marching faster than average, others may have been marching in the opposite direction. Explaining the factors driving statistics involves a large measure of conjecture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the difference may be that there is a larger mix of vacation homes in the county as a whole, and that market has been somewhat suppressed.

To test that idea, I ran some trial figures for condos in Dover, since most of them would be vacation homes. Median sale price in 2012 for dover condos was 8% lower than for 2011. If that drop represents vacation homes in general, it would explain a lot.

Whatever the reason, the Brattleboro real estate market has gained strength, and is leading the county.