Despite hot real estate market, more Mainers leaving than coming
Home buyers flocking to rural Maine towns like Rangeley and Houlton in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic have fueled a hot real estate market and made headlines, but the balance of people moving in and out of the state doesn’t have slow population growth here changed significantly. It is not an unusual trend throughout New England.
Slightly more Mainers left the state than relocated in 2020, and fewer out-of-state people moved into them in some Maine counties. This is according to a recent study by real estate company CBRE that analyzed forms to change the address of the U.S. Postal Service in 2020 versus the previous year, temporary extracts remain.
The heavily populated and southern counties of Cumberland and York continued to have the most withdrawals from outside Maine. The rural counties headed by Lincoln, Franklin, and Washington saw the largest percentage increases in 2019, but their resettlements still accounted for less than 4 percent of the statewide total. Fewer people moved in in the Aroostook and Piscataquis counties.