Average home prices in Bangor, Maine, rose more than 50 percent since the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020 until June 2023.
In Bangor, Wales, prices also rose a significant 35 percent during that time.
The parallel forces of higher mortgage rates, inflation and housing shortages are at work in cities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to make housing more pricey. The Bangor Daily News compared housing trends in several Maine communities with the European cities for which they were named and found faster growth in prices recently here despite similar market dynamics and pressures.
In Maine, average home prices in Bangor have been on a steady incline over the past couple years, rising to $258,029 as of June 30, according to Zillow. In Bangor, Wales, the average home price was $293,765 as of May 31, according to Home.co. uk.
Both Bangors are experiencing housing shortages for purchases and rentals, with the city in Wales having 18,322 residents, almost 60 percent of the Maine city’s population and roughly the size of Augusta.
Access to nature and water are common to each city. Bangor, Maine, is on the banks of the Penobscot River, while the oldest city in Wales on its northern coast, is home to Eryri National Park, which has the highest mountains in the country.
The two Bangors have another thing in common. Their name, which they pronounce the same, tends to be mispronounced. WalesOnline paid homage to the problem with a story on how to pronounce the city correctly, including a nod to the public service video made in Maine.
About 135 miles southwest of Bangor, Maine, the Androscoggin County town of Lisbon also is showing strong housing price growth, 45 percent to $310,406 from January 2020 to June 2023, Zillow said. The tight market in this town of 9,700 people is keeping would-be buyers out of the market as they lose out during competition for homes, Cheryl Haggerty, owner of Haggerty Realty in nearby Lisbon Falls, said recently.
Few affordable homes also is a problem in Lisbon, Portugal, a city of about 545,000 people. Added to that, Americans and other non-locals have been snapping up homes, which can be up to 40 percent less expensive than U.S. ones, according to My Dolce Casa. That website said the average home price is up 2.5 percent to $736,000 in downtown Lisbon and to $388,000 in the metropolitan area in the past year.
The two Lisbons do not have much in common. Lisbon, Maine, is a former mill town known for its Moxie Festival, but it has had a housing boom over the past couple years. Lisbon, Portugal, is known for its architecture, history and colorful ceramic tiles.
About an hour’s drive northwest of Lisbon, Maine, is Paris, a town of close to 5,200 where average home prices from January 2020 until June 2023 have risen about 61 percent to $303,710, according to Zillow. The county seat of Oxford County, it is known for being scenic, with livestock and dairy farms and large apple orchards. It also is just over a one-hour commute to Portland.
It could not be more different than Paris, France, a 17-hour drive southwest of Lisbon, Portugal. With a population of 2.16 million, Paris is home to internationally known art galleries and other culture. It has actually seen price drops in average homes to the lowest level in four years, according to Bloomberg, which blamed rising interest rates.
Asking prices in June were down 4.1 percent from one year ago, and part of the decrease, the news service said, is because French banks have a cap for granting mortgage loans, which has limited their ability to pass along higher interest rates to customers. That has led to loan applications being denied.
Homeowners in the French capital also had a 52 percent increase in their property tax this year, making the 12 percent increase in the Maine town’s budget look small by comparison.
