Frequently Asked Questions
Housing is considered
affordable when total housing costs - rent or mortgage plus taxes
and basic utilities - are no more than 30% of a household's gross
income. However, for many households, regardless of income, housing
costs often go as high as 40-50% of gross income.
Standards of affordability,
as defined by HUD, start at 80% of an area's median income. HUD
assumes that those at 100% or above can afford, and are served by,
market rate rents.
The U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development has defined median income for Dukes
County in 2004 as $66,100 for a family of four.
Sample income guidelines
are:
Median Income for a family of four is $68,300
The Fair Market Rents
are gross rent estimates, including rent and cost of utilities,
as defined annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development for Dukes County. The Fair Market Rents for Dukes County
in 2004 are:
|
Studio
|
1 Bedroom
|
2 Bedroom
|
3 Bedroom
|
4 Bedroom
|
Fair Market Rent
|
$710 |
$723 |
$961 |
$1,203 |
$1,350 |
The 2002 median single-family
home price on Martha's Vineyard averaged $661,900 ($1,183,750 for
Aquinnah, 1,200,000 for Chilmark, $485,000 for Edgartown, $325,000
for Oak Bluffs, $337,000 for Tisbury, and $440,000 for West Tisbury),
nearly double that of a decade ago. The past two years have seen
the virtual disappearance of homes sold for under $250,000.
In today's market, there
is nothing a median-income renter can buy on Martha's Vineyard.
Even the year-round family earning the median income of $66,100
would find nothing to purchase without the equity from an existing
home. In the past year, the 1,228 renter households on Martha's
Vineyard earning less than $50,000 had to complete with off-island
buyers for the chance to purchase one of just nine homes that sold
Island-wide for under $250,000, the highest price these renters
could normally afford.
|