Even Maine’s cheapest town has seen housing prices soar

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Mexico was amongst the cheapest locations to reside in Maine before the pandemic, with typical residences valued at $60,000. This yr, 4 houses there marketed for far more than $300,000.

Although the desirable spots in southern Maine like Cape Elizabeth and Portland have noticed the hottest marketplaces for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, rural communities like Mexico, which is just across the Androscoggin River from the mill city of Rumford, are also looking at houses provide like they under no circumstances have prior to.

The standard dwelling in Mexico was truly worth $59,600, the least expensive for any group in Maine with 1,000 persons or much more, as of the most lately obtainable American Neighborhood Study figures from 2020. Most of the only communities that were being down below ended up plantations and townships of much less than 100 folks.

That valuation has risen considering the fact that the pandemic began, as has the median profits selling price of a household on the sector. It was $60,000 in 2018, $65,000 in 2019, $77,000 in 2020 and $93,900 in 2021, according to Redfin documents of sold residences.

Mason Milligan, a 26-calendar year-old welder, grew up in Rumford and lived in Maine all his lifestyle in advance of buying a two-bed room residence in Mexico in March. He determined to check out for it just after becoming outbid on a person in Rumford, captivated to a sizable garage and a drive to depart far more rural Andover.

Milligan mentioned he was “not fully happy” with the $179,000 price tag for the property, but famous that the market was substantial. That was the 2nd priciest of the six two-bedrooms marketed in Mexico this 12 months. He was capable to invest in the household with the aid of a Federal Housing Administration bank loan.

The median gross sales price tag for two-bed room residences in Mexico from 2018 to 2020 was $75,000. In general, the median income rate so far in 2022 was $159,900, though that selection is continue to much under prices in most of Maine.

Again in January, a 4-bedroom with all around 100 acres became the most high-priced household sold in Mexico in the previous five years, in accordance to Redfin data. It went for $599,000 after 77 days on the sector. It was acquired by two men and women who mentioned their handle as a household in Los Angeles.

The city is most regarded in Maine for its exceptional name, which came from community sympathy for Mexico’s fight for independence from Spain at the time of the town’s incorporation in 1818.