Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment of our three-part series regarding Biddeford’s housing crisis.

When discussing Biddeford’s housing crisis, the bulk of the conversation often settles upon issues of homelessness, low-income housing or so-called “affordable” housing projects.

But there is another important piece to the puzzle.

Over the last few years, pricing for single-family homes has been skyrocketing as the demand for housing continues to soar throughout southern Maine.

According to a recent report by the Westbrook Development Corporation, the average age of first-time home buyers has substantially increased: from people in their mid-twenties in the 1980s to an average age of 38 years old in 2024.

During a Feb. 11 Biddeford city council workshop meeting about housing, George Gervais, the city’s director of economic development, told the council that the housing issue is somewhat “cyclical.”

According to Gervais’ report, almost half of households 55 and older have no retirement savings, and that the median cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home was roughly $93,000/year in 2020. Thus, many senior residents simply cannot afford to leave their current homes. That dynamic, Gervais said, clogs the market for available single-family homes for younger buyers.

A somewhat stagnant supply of single-family homes – combined with a skyrocketing demand for housing – creates a perfect storm scenario.

If young adults are not transitioning from their apartments to homeownership, the availability of apartments decreases, which increases average rental costs.

If someone cannot keep pace with rising rental costs, they are at risk of being homeless or forced to move to a more rural community. That scenario impacts local business owners who struggle with workforce challenges because employees simply cannot afford to live near their work place.

Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman said he and the city council are committed to tackling this complicated issue.

“It’s a very complicated and complex problem,” Grohman said during a prior interview. “There are a lot of moving pieces.”

The average market rate rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Biddeford is $1,450. While that cost is lower than prices in Portland, Portsmouth or Boston, it leaves generational residents wondering how much longer they can live in the same town where they were raised and attended school.

According to local real estate agents, homebuilders and developers, the housing crisis is directly connected to the “Three I’s” Inventory, Interest Rates and Investors.

The local real estate market

Scott Thibeau of Biddeford is a well-known real estate agent who hosts a regular podcast about southern Maine’s real estate market.

A native of Saco, Thibeau jumped into the real estate business in 2013 when he began a partnership with Doug Sanford, perhaps the region’s most well-known real estate developer.

It was Doug Sanford who had the vision to begin turning vacant and deteriorating mill buildings in downtown Biddeford into residential apartments and micro-businesses.

Thibeau says the local real estate has cooled a bit over the last few months, but said southern Maine real estate is still a very hot market that is very attractive to people from other parts of the country.

“The secret of Maine is out, and that has consequences, mainly gentrification.
That’s a tough dynamic for people who have lived here for generations.”

— Scott Thibeau

“If you really think about it was social media that changed the whole dynamic about Maine and our quality of life,” Thibeau said. “Suddenly, people from all over started being exposed to everything we offer, shattering myths and misconceptions about life in Maine.”

The new “awareness” of Maine was also fueled by climate change, Thibeau said.

“We offer a phenomenal quality of life in southern Maine,” Thibeau said. “And a lot of people are coming here to escape extreme heat in southern states. Climate migration is a real thing.”

Those people moving to Biddeford for a better quality of life bring with them greater financial resources and the ability to work remotely from anywhere in the country, Thibeau says.

“The secret of Maine is out, and that has consequences, mainly gentrification,” Thibeau said. “That’s a tough dynamic for people who have lived here for generations.”

In addition to being a real estate agent, Thibeau is currently the president of the Heart of Biddeford’s board of directors. The Heart of Biddeford was created several years ago to help improve and promote the city’s downtown area making it more attractive for investment.

“We’ve seen a lot of success in making our city more attractive and desirable, but I don’t think anyone wants to go back to the days when MERC was still burning trash downtown just to bring prices down,” Thibeau says.

Thibeau says the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment ranges from $2,200 to $2,500 per month. In order to get a home at that same income level, the home price cannot be more than $332,000, factoring interest rates on a 30-year mortgage.

“You’re going to have a hard time finding a $332,000 home in southern Maine,” Thibeau said. “There are only 17 houses currently listed for $332,000 or less in York and Cumberland counties, most of them are in Sanford.

The problem of rising housing costs is impacted by the harsh realities of low incomes that makes it nearly impossible to pay no more than 1/3 of your income in housing.

“Maine is still the most affordable state in New England, but we’re the 17^th most costly state to live in nationally,” Thibeau said.

A homebuilder’s perspective

Richard ‘Chico’ Potvin has been building homes in the Biddeford-Saco area for nearly 40 years.

A Biddeford native, Potvin says he has seen dramatic changes in the housing market, including more stringent governmental guidelines, higher labor costs and a much higher expectation of what a starter home should include.

“It used to be that a starter home was something like a two-bedroom, one bath ranch-style home,” Potvin said. “Today, buyers are much more demanding. They want everything from granite countertops and recessed lighting to an attached garage, three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

“Expectations are literally through the roof,” Potvin said.

Potvin says he and one of his partners spent more than four years trying to get approval for a project known as South Street Village, a proposal that included up to 50 single-family homes, a few duplexes and a commercial core for small businesses on outer South Street.

“They [the city] kept changing standards and requirements,” Potvin said. “Every time we felt like we had scored a touch-down, they just moved the goal post further back.”

According to Potvin, roughly 58 percent of Biddeford is zoned as rural farmland (RF). “If the city truly wants more housing inventory, they will need to be very creative,” he said, pointing to the city’s industrial parks and other land the city already owns.

“We need a balance,” Potvin said. “But we also need a more streamlined review process. Every new regulation and requirement adds additional costs to that new home. If you really want affordable, you have to manage your expectations.”

A developer’s perspective

Nathan Bateman literally grew up in the world of real estate development. His grandfather, an architect, formed a partnership to create a real estate development company in the early 1970s

“My brother (Aaron) and I literally grew up in the development world,” he laughed. “I was eight years old and boots on the ground.”

Over the last 40 years, Bateman Partners, LLC has developed properties worth more than $210 million, and currently has more than $140 million worth of projects in development or under construction, according to their website.

Bateman Partners are involved with two significant projects in Biddeford, a proposal to expand an affordable housing project near Rotary Park, and the ongoing renovation of another affordable housing project the company owns in the downtown area.

Bateman says he is proud of his company’s legacy and its commitment to working collaboratively with communities, but also said developing any kind of significant project is not an endeavor for the faint of heart.

“It’s a very competitive world, even in the affordable housing market,” Bateman said. “It’s almost a bloodsport. “Every project is basically a business unto itself.”

Bateman said some projects are safer than other more ambitious projects, but there are many outside forces that create challenges to creating quality housing that is also affordable.

“Fortunately, we have the experience and know how to get things done,” Bateman said. “But there are lots of factors beyond our control, including interest rates and a limited pool of state funding assistance for affordable housing development.”

Bateman said increasing labor and material costs also put pressure on the costs of any housing project, not to mention rigorous reviews by both local and state regulatory agencies.”

“Safe, affordable housing is always our goal,” Bateman said. “We certainly understand the importance and need for local and state standards and review, but it’s not always the model of efficiency. We literally need to use every tool in our toolbox.”

Bateman said one of the largest challenges in developing affordable housing projects is often created by neighbors and abutters of the proposed project.

“We see it all the time,” Bateman said. “People want affordable housing but not in my backyard. NIMBYism is a big hurdle to clear.”

RELATED: Biddeford’s Housing Crisis, Part One

RELATED: Biddeford’s Housing Crisis, Part Two

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