Conclusion: challenges and opportunities

This is the final article in a series that broke up the data provided in the Franklin County Comprehensive Housing Needs Analysis study. For context, this story summarizes the study’s conclusions about the challenges that the county will face with its housing market, and the opportunity that those challenges present.
The Franklin County Comprehensive Housing Needs Analysis study, revealed in May, came to the conclusion that over 600 units of housing, either in the form of rental, senior or market-owned properties, will be needed through 2025 to both handle current market pressure and withstand future trends.
Throughout the 180-page report, Maxfield Research and Consulting gave supporting evidence for the need for more housing, and how Franklin County’s economy and housing trends both impact the demand, and can afford more styles of housing. In this conclusion section of the report, Maxfield outlined areas that can prove to be a challenge to developing more housing and how Franklin County communities can overcome them.
Affordability
Maxfield explains that based on current home price in Franklin County, that approximately 83 percent of the county population could afford to purchase an entry-level home re-sale (not brand new) at a cost of $70,000 (2017). Likewise, 88 percent of homeowners can afford the average Franklin County rent for a one-bedroom apartment, at $350 per month. Maxfield explained that the current market setup is an affordable market, created by supply and demand and socioeconomic factors. Because of this, some householders who would normally wait to purchase a home are doing so earlier because of the low cost.
Read the full article in the September 6 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.