Vermont Realtors: prices rose while sales cooled; Act 181 interim exemptions helping smaller projects
January 11, 2025 | General & Housing, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative , Vermont
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Peter Tucker, director of advocacy and public policy for the Vermont Association of Realtors, told the House Committee on General & Housing on Jan. 10 that statewide median single‑family home prices rose to about $415,000 in 2024 even as sales volume cooled and inventory increased roughly 14–15 percent.
Tucker said those trends are visible through the association’s multiple listing service and a public dashboard called Domus Analytics, which the association updates from MLS data. He also told the committee that a statutory change known as Act 181 (the 2024 interim exemptions tied to Act 250 rules) has created a temporary pathway for smaller multiunit projects in many communities.
The market context: Tucker said single‑family transactions jumped from roughly 7,000 in 2019 to about 8,300 in 2020–2021, then cooled to about 6,600 in 2022. He said the median sale price for single‑family homes was roughly $246,000 in 2019, rose past approximately $325,000 in the early pandemic years, and reached about $415,000 for the full year 2024. He noted monthly data have shown some moderation since the 2021–2022 peak and that active inventory is up about 14.5 percent compared with a year earlier.
On Act 181 and interim exemptions, Tucker described a temporary exemption intended to ease Act 250 review for modest projects: the exemption creates a roughly one‑quarter‑mile radius around many villages and allows modest residential infill there without full Act 250 review through 2027; in larger city centers the exemption can apply to larger projects (Tucker said the statute allows higher unit counts in cities). He said developers and attorneys at recent conferences reported using the exemptions to move projects forward.
Tucker also summarized regulatory and legal changes affecting broker practices following a national antitrust lawsuit he identified by the name used in his testimony. He said the industry reached a settlement that requires greater transparency in buyer representation and compensation. "We will not represent buyer services as free," Tucker said, describing a change that requires buyers' agents to present a contract disclosing compensation and that removes buyer‑agent compensation data from MLS listings.
Tucker told the committee the state Office of Professional Regulation has an older review of the real estate profession on file and that the real estate commission is expected to undertake rulemaking later this year; he said Vermont Realtors have prepared a work group to participate. He offered the committee access to the association’s public market dashboard and to local Realtors for more detailed town‑ or county‑level data.
No formal motions or votes were taken on the committee floor during Tucker’s presentation.
Tucker said those trends are visible through the association’s multiple listing service and a public dashboard called Domus Analytics, which the association updates from MLS data. He also told the committee that a statutory change known as Act 181 (the 2024 interim exemptions tied to Act 250 rules) has created a temporary pathway for smaller multiunit projects in many communities.
The market context: Tucker said single‑family transactions jumped from roughly 7,000 in 2019 to about 8,300 in 2020–2021, then cooled to about 6,600 in 2022. He said the median sale price for single‑family homes was roughly $246,000 in 2019, rose past approximately $325,000 in the early pandemic years, and reached about $415,000 for the full year 2024. He noted monthly data have shown some moderation since the 2021–2022 peak and that active inventory is up about 14.5 percent compared with a year earlier.
On Act 181 and interim exemptions, Tucker described a temporary exemption intended to ease Act 250 review for modest projects: the exemption creates a roughly one‑quarter‑mile radius around many villages and allows modest residential infill there without full Act 250 review through 2027; in larger city centers the exemption can apply to larger projects (Tucker said the statute allows higher unit counts in cities). He said developers and attorneys at recent conferences reported using the exemptions to move projects forward.
Tucker also summarized regulatory and legal changes affecting broker practices following a national antitrust lawsuit he identified by the name used in his testimony. He said the industry reached a settlement that requires greater transparency in buyer representation and compensation. "We will not represent buyer services as free," Tucker said, describing a change that requires buyers' agents to present a contract disclosing compensation and that removes buyer‑agent compensation data from MLS listings.
Tucker told the committee the state Office of Professional Regulation has an older review of the real estate profession on file and that the real estate commission is expected to undertake rulemaking later this year; he said Vermont Realtors have prepared a work group to participate. He offered the committee access to the association’s public market dashboard and to local Realtors for more detailed town‑ or county‑level data.
No formal motions or votes were taken on the committee floor during Tucker’s presentation.
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