Real estate in Vermont has been affected by the national recession.  Things have gotten so bad that here has been only two sales in all of Killington for the whole year in 2009, for example.  The oversupply of residential realty in Vermont is temporary, though expected to exist for a few years more. Vermont real estate prices have been falling, though not as precipitously as elsewhere.  Never a real estate dynamo, neither does Vermont suffer as dramatically in this recession as other places, most notoriously the perennial bywords of Florida and Nevada.  Still, there is no doubt that our current economic malaise does affect Vermont negatively, a case in point being Killington, where only two homes had been sold in all of 2009!  Indeed, the Federal Housing Price Index shows that Vermont home prices, including both primary and secondary vacation homes, have only fallen 3.2% from those of last year, while the National Association of Realtors finds that the national median value for existing single-family homes is 15.5% below that from roughly the same time period.  A look at Vermont’s commercial real estate is also instructive.  Located on U.S. Route 7, The Diamond Run Mall in Rutland is managed by Johnstown, Pennsylvania’s Zamias, Incorporated.  This shopping center hosts over forty stores in addition to the restaurants in its food court.  An ice-skating rink near the K-Mart is operated by Rutland Fieldhouse, Incorporated.  University Mall is Vermont’s largest enclosed shopping center, with over seventy retail outlets located off Interstate 89′s Exit 14E.  The Church Street Marketplace is a popular outdoor pedestrian mall that stretches for four blocks in downtown Burlington, with over twenty-five restaurants and seventy-five shops.  Essex Shoppes & Cinema is another outdoor shopping center, but in Essex, and much more spread out, with the usual mix of chain stores and restaurants complementing its stadium-seating movie theater.  Commercial real estate is usually a lot more stable, but in the kind of recession we’re experiencing, which is unprecedented, such truisms cannot be relied upon anymore.

The content of this article has been posted strictly for informational and human interest purposes only, not for advisory purposes, and should not be relied upon in any way by any person or institution.  The reader should not rely on the validity of any of the information contained herein.  The reader is urged to consult a variety of professionals when making business or any other significant decision, including accountants, lawyers, investment advisors, insurance companies and the like.  Again, this article has been posted merely for human interest and informational purposes, not for advisory purposes.