Compared to all other states, Vermont had the fourth highest rate of homelessness in 2024, according to HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. For every 10,000 Vermonters, 53 experienced homelessness, based on the Point-In-Time count completed across the country in January. Hawaii, New York and Oregon had rates higher than Vermont. In 2023, Vermont’s homelessness rate was 51 per 10,000.

As in prior years, Vermont also had among the lowest rates of unsheltered homelessness in the country.  Five percent of the people experiencing homelessness in Vermont were unsheltered, according to the HUD 2024 report. Only New York had a lower rate of unsheltered homelessness (4%). 

Nationally, the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded, with 771,480 people, or about 23 of every 10,000 people, in an emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing program or in unsheltered locations across the country. "Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits," the report concluded.

Additional information on homelessness in Vermont and its regions is available on housingdata.org and in the recently completed 2025 Vermont Housing Needs Assessment.  

Although employer-assisted housing has a long history in the U.S., the recent housing shortage has prompted new interest in this strategy for meeting the housing needs of Vermont workers. VHFA’s recently-released resource guide Employer-Assisted Housing in Vermont reviews demand- and supply-side options and best practices for employers looking to improve housing opportunities. 

Vermont’s recent housing needs assessment highlights the myriad challenges facing the state’s housing and labor markets, including a deepening housing shortage with rippling economic and social impacts. This shortage and the ensuing jump in housing costs in Vermont make it increasingly difficult for employers to attract and retain the workers needed to maintain and grow their businesses.  In response, a growing number of Vermont employers have sought out ways to expand housing opportunities for their employees and their communities. 

The new guide describes six Vermont case studies, including Stonecrop Meadows launched through Middlebury College, National Bank of Middlebury, Porter Hospital and Summit Properties. Within walking distance to public transit and sitting on 35 acres, this development will serve the community at large. VHFA has allocated about $8 million in grant funding to help subsidize the cost of construction and facilitate the affordability of the new homes for average income households and awarded Low Income Housing Tax Credits that will generate about $9 million in equity. 

The history of employer-assisted housing in Vermont and throughout the United States provides clear lessons learned.  The most important of these lessons is that closely associating or tying employment and housing together can create an unhealthy dynamic and imbalanced power relationship that is harmful to employees. The new guide describes how employers today can expand housing opportunities while maintaining a healthy separation between an individual’s employment status and their access to housing. 

New Vermont Property Transfer Tax (PTT) data shows recent trends in the home sale market have continued in the first half of 2024. During that time, the median sale price of year-round homes increased an additional 5%, compared to the median price of $325,000 in 2023. At the same time, the median length of days a Vermont home is on the market for sale has remained at a historic low point, suggesting demand to buy homes in Vermont remains high despite increasing sale prices. Additionally, new analysis shows that secondary homes account for about a quarter of all Vermont home sales each year.  These datasets, and many others about Vermont’s housing market, are available for free on VHFA’s housingdata.org.  

Sales prices of year-round homes

The median sales price of a primary home in Vermont increased by 5% during the first half of 2024, reaching $340,000, according to recent Vermont Property Transfer Tax (PTT) records. Overall, median Vermont home sale prices have increased by 50% since 2019. 

These figures, derived by the VHFA research team for housingdata.org, represent single-unit homes only used as primary residences, including single-family detached homes, condominiums, and manufactured/mobile homes sold with land. 

Vacation home sales

Additionally, new analysis is available on housingdata.org examining secondary/vacation home sales. In 2023, there were 2,226 secondary homes sold in Vermont, with a median price of $392,250. Consistent with prior years, secondary homes accounted for 28% of all Vermont home sales in 2023. The number of secondary home sales peaked in 2021 when there were 4,055 sales, accounting for 33% of all residential sales that year. 

Total home sales

Overall, residential sale volume was down in 2023 - there were 7,950 total residential sales (5,724 primary and 2,226 secondary), a 23% decline from the pre-pandemic level in 2019 (10,298 total sales, 8,281 primary, 2,647 secondary) and an even greater 41% decline from the recent peak sale year of 2021 (13,395 total sales, 9,340 primary, 4,055 secondary). This decline is likely due at least in part to the extended period of high interest rates mixed with ever-rising median home sale prices. Between 2019 and 2023, there were approximately 40,000 total home sales in Vermont, about 15% of the state’s housing stock .

Days-on-market 

Median days-on-market is the median length of time a home is available on the sale market before entering a sale agreement with a new buyer. Vermont’s median days-on-market has decreased every year since 2016. That year, the median number of days a primary home was on the market was 137 days. By 2019, that had dropped to 99 days on market; in 2023, that figure dropped to 62 days.  Days-on-market can be used as an indicator of demand in the home sale market. Decreasing days-on-market suggests potential buyers are eager to purchase the stock of homes available for sale.

While the overall volume of home sales decreased in 2023, the trend of declining average days-on-market has not been affected. Although there were fewer primary home sales in 2023, homes sold just as quickly that year as when the market peaked in 2021 and 2022. This suggests that there is still significant demand to purchase homes in Vermont, but there is waning interest in selling homes currently. This, again, may be caused by the extended period of high interest rates – homeowners may be less likely to sell now because they do not wish to lose their pre-inflation mortgage rates when they move. 

Seasonal trends in home sales

The home sale market in Vermont follows seasonal trends, heavily impacted by the winter weather conditions that make it more difficult to both buy and sell a home in Vermont. This is born out in the days-on-market data – annually, February typically has the longest average days on market, while June, July, and August typically have the shortest average days on market. 

Similarly, January and February are typically the months with the lowest total residential sales, while June through October typically have the most monthly home sales. Interestingly, sale volume did not follow the same seasonal trend in the second half of 2023 and did not peak between June and October as had been the case all prior years since 2019. 

Due to the seasonal nature of the housing market, sale volume for the first half of 2024 is not made available on housingdata.org. According to MLS home sales data, between 2019 and 2023, the first six months accounted for between 27-47% of the total annual residential sales per year.

Conversions between primary and secondary use

VHFA researchers also used this recent home sales data analysis to take a special dive into the prevalence of out-of-state buyers and conversions between using homes as primary and secondary homes.

Annually, approximately 1,800 to 2,400 homes in Vermont change between primary and secondary usage, some from primary to secondary and some from secondary to primary. Since 2019, between 50 and 400 more homes each year have been converted to primary usage than have been converted to secondary usage, meaning the primary housing stock subtly grew through conversion each year. There are 1,044 more homes converted to primary usage than secondary usage since 2019, an average rate of 200 net primary homes per year during that time. 

However, this only accounts for conversions during time of sale – should an owner change the way they use their home (between primary and secondary) mid-ownership, that conversion would not be captured by this data.  While homes converted to primary occupation [LB5] only represent 0.3% of the state’s primary housing stock, they represent the addition of year-round homes needed to address short-range housing challenges such as a tight vacancy rate and rising homelessness.

Interested in purchasing a home in Vermont?

Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) programs are available to help moderate-income Vermonters become homeowners.  For more information about VHFA’s affordable mortgage and down payment assistance programs, visit our homebuyer website. 

Last week the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced the publication of the Vermont 2025-2029 Statewide Housing Needs Assessment, a five-year document the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires from government entities that receive federal funding. The findings in the report show Vermont’s statewide housing shortage remains and the affordability gap is growing as costs stretch Vermonters’ budgets thin.

DHCD contracted with the VHFA research team to complete the Vermont 2025-2029 Statewide Housing Needs Assessment.  

“Vermont’s affordability crisis is directly tied to a lack of housing,” said Governor Phil Scott in the announcement press release. “We cannot successfully grow our economy, address significant challenges in our healthcare and education systems, or improve quality of life for Vermonters without an adequate supply of housing across the entire state. My Administration is committed to improving and increasing our housing stock, which this Housing Needs Assessment shows is drastically needed.”

The Housing Needs Assessment, along with the mandated 2024 Fair Housing Analysis (expected to be published this fall by DHCD), informs the statewide Consolidated Plan that HUD approves for federal funding. The Housing Needs Assessment is also increasingly used by state and local officials to inform policy and spending decisions that address housing needs in our communities.

“Our housing policy should be about creating more opportunities for Vermonters to be able to find a place to live,” said DHCD Commissioner Alex Farrell. “Taxpayers dollars alone is not enough to build at least 24,000 units in the next five years, so we need to work with our public and private sector partners to accelerate unit generation in every corner of the state.” 

To see the Vermont 2025-2029 Housing Needs Assessment click here. The assessment includes 10 issue-specific fact sheets and corresponding detailed report chapters as well as 14 chapters pertaining to county-level housing needs. 

Key Findings in the 2025-2029 Report

• Vermont’s housing shortage deepened in 2020, with rippling economic and social impacts. Between 2025 and 2029, Vermont will likely need 24,000-36,000 additional year-round homes. Currently, there are approximately 272,000 year-round homes in Vermont.
• Low-income households and renters are hardest hit by the housing shortage. 25% of renters are paying more than half their income for housing and a shrinking portion of renters can afford to buy homes. Approximately 17,000 renter households are considered “severely cost burdened” by housing costs.
• About 20,000 Vermont homes have indications of housing quality vulnerabilities, many of which have low-income owners with few funds for repairs. These account for 7% of the year-round housing stock.   
• The segment of Vermont residents with needs for service-enriched housing is growing. The number of Vermonters who are aged 75 and up is rising at the same time that Vermont struggles with higher than average rates of addiction disorder and disability.