If you're planning to buy, sell or rent commercial property in the Burlington or Williston Vermont areas, keeping up with the happenings in the local business sphere is the best way to be informed and maximize your Burlington VT  commercial real estate market knowledge.

For your convenience Nicole Senecal and the team at Omega Commercial Real Estate Williston, VT Homes for Sale have provided this list of Williston, Burlington and Vermont news related to homes for sale in VT, Commercial property for lease in Williston, VT and Homes for sale in Colchester, Essex, Williston, and Barre/Montpelier, VT. Bookmark us!

Steady job market aids Burlington, Vt., housing

Burlington is a picturesque town that has avoided many of the pitfalls of the housing bubble.

It trailed most of the country during the housing boom as its local real estate market remained conservative and predictable. But when the national housing market crashed, Burlington's stability turned into an asset.

It even held its own better than the rest of Vermont. Bordering Lake Champlain, Burlington is the Chittenden County seat and Vermont's largest city. "We are the power county," says Kathie Desautels, president of the Northwestern Vermont Board of Realtors.

It is home to the University of Vermont, Burlington College and Champlain College. Because Burlington
is a large college town, rental property is in demand.

"In our area the rents are so high that it is almost always more affordable to buy a home rather than rent," Desautels says.

Many parents of college students buy houses or condominiums for their children to live in while they're attending college.

•Sales status. The local housing market has not been sheltered from the recession, which has slowed down many buyers. But sales started well this year because of the federal tax credit.

Since its expiration, home sales have slowed. In September, sales in Chittenden County were 23%
below September 2009.

The local market doesn't look quite as bad when the first three quarters of the year are considered. From
January through September, home sales are 3% above last year's first nine months.

"Even though mortgage rates are now extremely low and the stock market is doing quite well, many
buyers are more cautious," Desautels says.

•Price points. Prices in Chittenden County have been nearly flat for three years, says Art Woolf,
economist at the University of Vermont.

In 2008, the median home price was $259,000. This year, prices are nearly the same.

In September, the county's median sales price was $260,000, which is 5% above a year earlier.

•Local economy. Vermont's unemployment rate is usually below the nation's, and Burlington's rate is even less. Its unemployment rate in August was 4.9%, compared to the state's 6% rate.

"The Burlington area is the commercial and financial center of the state," Woolf says. "It is the strongest
part of the state's economy. And a lot of the major industries are relatively resistant to changing economic times."

Among the major employers in Chittenden County are Fletcher Allen Health Care, a university hospital and medical center; GE Healthcare; and General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. Burlington is well known as the headquarters of Ben & Jerry's.

•Hot 'hoods. Five Sisters is a very popular neighborhood. Many houses have been scooped up by word of mouth, before a Realtor even put them on the market, Desautels says.

That is because it has historic character and a small-town ambience. The homes are an eclectic mix of Cape Cods, stone bungalows and Foursquares. Many have front porches.

It is not an affluent neighborhood. Many homes are small and very close together. One three-bedroom Craftsman-style home built in 1929 is on the market for $319,000.

Most-expensive home

The Lake Champlain waterfront, Cape-style home shown above on 1.17 acres is on the market.

•Price: $2.2 million.

•Bedrooms: 4.

•Bathrooms:  4 full, 1 half.

•Size: 4,455 square feet.

•Features: Built in 1930, updated open floor plan, master suite, laundry room, family room, formal dining room, wood fireplace, mountain and water views, dock, two-car garage.

Median-price home

This duplex home, built in 1969, is on the market.

•Price: $259,900.

•Bedrooms: 4.•Bathrooms: 2 full.

•Size: 2,632 square feet.

•Features: Hardwood floors, fireplace, eat-in kitchen, covered porch, patio, one-car garage.

Burlington, Vermont - November 12, 2010

Kathie Desautels of REMAX North appeared on The :30 to talk about what's happening in the real estate market in our area. Desautels is the head of the Northwestern Board of Realtors.

Winter is traditionally the slow season for real estate, but Desautels say that's changing.

"We're seeing less seasonality than we used to, and right now the market is nice and stable and there's some good activity going on. We're looking forward to a good winter," she said. "One of the main reasons is that prices have stabilized and the interest rates are phenomenal right now."

Desautels said houses are typically spending an average of 91 days on the market in our area right now.

The average price of a home in Chittenden County this year is about $284,000. That's running about 4.25 percent over last year, when the average was $272,000. And it's nearly in line with where we were 5 years ago before the big boom and market adjustment, the average then was $287,000.

Desautels said Vermont was not hit as hard as other states by the housing bust. "No, we're very lucky, very lucky."

She said Vermont is more conservative and didn't have the highs and lows other states had in the housing market, and she said lenders here are more conservative.

Desautels is looking for 2011 to be similar to this year in our region. She says the market is stable right now.

But once the kids graduate, are mom and dad left holding the mortgage?

His most outrageous sale was to a parent from Orange County, Calif., whose daughter was a freshman at SMU. Healy took her to see a couple of condos that were leasing for about $1,100 a bedroom. The client asked for the selling price of the units. And the client told him: $600,000 apiece. The client asked how many were available. There were three. I'll take them all, the client said.

"Property here was appreciating at 7 to 12 percent in the peak years, '05 to '08," says Healy, who launched three more websites this year. According to Healy, LivebyTCU.com is netting him 20 to 30 clients a day who want to buy near the Texas Christian University campus in Fort Worth; in Austin, ATX.renting.com sends him a few buyer leads, as does SanAntoniorenting.com.

Speaking of San Antonio, I still own a home there that I purchased for about $175,000 in 2005, when my son attended Trinity University. After he graduated in 2007, I leased it to three female students. It's now in the hands of a young couple who will be leaving in April. I may sell the house, or lease it again next spring, which Rogers reminds me is prime time for college leasing and buying.

Healy got in on the upside of the market; others may not be as fortunate.

Gloria Curtis' daughter also attended SMU. She and her husband had a friend who was a developer in a new project adjacent to the SMU campus, and they bought a two-bedroom, two-bath unit in 2007 for about $450,000. Gloria's daughter moved in along with three friends. The parents' primary concern: safety for their girls.

"It all fell into place with her friends and roommates because all the parents wanted the kids to be safe and secure, says Curtis. "And everyone always paid their rent on time."

The girls had 24-hour security, as well as access to a spa, health club and restaurants. For a time, the place even had a car that the girls could use as a shuttle service. But now that her daughter has graduated, Curtis says that she knows they won't make a profit on that condo if they sold it tomorrow.

If she could go back, would she still have signed on the dotted?

"Knowing what I know now, I might not have done it," she says. "But the jury's still out for us -- I think we can make it work for us, but it will take a little longer."

If worse comes to worse, Curtis says that she may sell her home in Garland, Texas and move into that fun Dallas condo.

The financial blog CalculatedRisk.com published an alarming chart today showing how excess housing inventory is hurting job seekers. Until that inventory is reduced, it is unlikely that unemployment numbers will improve.

This week the Census Bureau released the "Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design" report for Q3 2010. Although this data is Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA), it shows the trends for several key housing categories.

This graph shows the NSA quarterly intent for four start categories since 1975: single family built for sale, owner built (includes contractor built for owner), starts built for rent, and condos built for sale.

The number of units built for rent increased sharply in Q3. Although still fairly low, there were 40 thousand rental units started in Q3 2010, almost double the 22 thousand started in Q3 2009. With the rental vacancy rate starting to fall -- and no more ill-conceived homebuyer tax credits on the horizon -- rental unit construction has probably bottomed. This increase in construction will help a little with employment.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.39 percent, up dramatically from last week's 4.17 percent, according to Freddie Mac's primary mortgage market survey. The rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages ballooned to 3.76 percent, up from 3.57 percent last week.

Analysts are citing the announcement of the government's second quantitative easing (QE2) plan, a bid to purchase $600 billion in government bonds, as the principal reason for the jump. But despite the sudden uptick, mortgage rates remain highly competitive and should not dissuade prospective buyers from moving forward. Last year, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.83 percent.

Mortgage Rates Up, Applications Down

By Alec Foege Nov 17th 2010 @ 7:01AM

The mortgage market remains wobbly as interest rates have begun a move up. The number of new mortgage applications dropped 14.4 percent for the week ending Nov. 12, according to the latest survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

While that figure is seasonally adjusted, it makes no account for Veterans Day. For the same period the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.46 percent from 4.28 percent the previous week. It is believed that interest rates increased due to uncertainty about the government's new QE2 program. (See the end of this post for a full-size look at the chart at left.)

Home Prices to Fall 10% in 2011, Says S&P

By AOL Real Estate Staff Nov 16th 2010 @ 5:46PM

Housingwire.com reports a somewhat alarming forecast from Standard & Poor's, suggesting that home prices still have a significant way to fall. Regardless of low mortgage rates, lack of demand for homes is weighing heavily on values.

Standard & Poor's analysts believe home prices will drop between 7 percent and 10 percent through 2011, erasing any improvements prices have recently made.

Home sales, which plummeted after the homebuyer tax credit expired in April have continued to lag. Pending home sales, which preclude existing home sale data, dipped 1.8 percent in September before the market goes into a winter many expect to be bleaker than usual. With this lack of demand, inventories should grow, according to S&P, while prices drop.

"Low mortgage rates will likely continue to encourage refinancing, but their influence on home buying activities has been limited due to the weak housing market and a lack of demand," S&P credit analyst Erkan Erturk said.