Maine Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical Maine home is worth $415,552, up 1.6% over the past year and up 27.5% over five years, 12.7% above the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #18 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $2,138 a month and takes about $98,297 of income; the median Maine household earns $68,810, $29,487 short.
In Portland, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $2,342 a month against a $2,778 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so renting is $436 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is warm: 25.8% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 45 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 13.8% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
Maine Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in Maine? The typical home is worth $415,552, the median sale price is $411,667 and the median list price $441,000. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have Maine Home Prices Changed?
The typical Maine home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values rose 1.6% over the past year, are up 27.5% over five years, up 106.8% over ten, and up 283% since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in Maine?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Portland, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical Maine home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Portland, ME
The payment excludes property tax (1.17% of value in Maine), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (27.5%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #34 of 50
A $2,138 monthly payment takes 37.3% of the median Maine household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is Maine a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. Maine is warm: it slightly favors sellers: one of the three market signals points cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $411,667 against a median list price of $441,000, so the typical home closes 6.7% below asking.
Where the Maine market is heading
Compared with a year ago, all three signals point looser, in buyers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is up 1.4 points from a year ago to 25.8%, homes take 5 days longer to go pending than a year ago (45 now), and the number of homes for sale is up 13.8%. The typical home value rose 1.6% over the same period and is 0.0% below its July 2026 peak of $415,556. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where Maine home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in Maine Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 20 of the Maine cities we track. The most expensive is Portland ($559,175) and the cheapest Caribou ($167,622). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland | 69,104 | $559,175 | 0.0% | ||||
| Lewiston | 37,886 | $298,174 | +1.2% | ||||
| Bangor | 31,663 | $288,461 | +1.1% | ||||
| South Portland | 26,780 | $522,512 | +3.3% | ||||
| Auburn | 24,294 | $326,716 | +0.9% | ||||
| Biddeford | 22,463 | $511,133 | +0.4% | ||||
| Sanford | 22,095 | $375,492 | +1.0% | ||||
| Saco | 20,636 | $524,610 | +0.9% | ||||
| Westbrook | 20,484 | $458,320 | +1.4% | ||||
| Augusta | 18,999 | $282,091 | +0.4% | ||||
| Brunswick | 16,928 | $496,790 | +2.0% | ||||
| Waterville | 16,704 | $253,736 | +1.8% | ||||
| Orono | 10,699 | $313,830 | +1.7% | ||||
| Brewer | 9,654 | $306,030 | +3.0% | ||||
| Old Orchard Beach | 9,150 | $507,767 | +1.8% | ||||
| Bath | 8,801 | $378,676 | +0.5% | ||||
| Presque Isle | 8,736 | $179,198 | +1.9% | ||||
| Ellsworth | 8,550 | $360,410 | +3.2% | ||||
| Old Town | 7,439 | $256,347 | +0.9% | ||||
| Caribou | 7,427 | $167,622 | +1.0% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All Maine cities ranked →
How Maine Compares With Nearby States
The Northeast states closest to Maine on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on Maine
Maine dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in Maine
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to Maine
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
Maine Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in Maine?
$415,552 is the typical Maine home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $411,667 and the median list price $441,000. That makes Maine the #18 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in Maine?
No. The typical Maine home value rose 1.6% over the past year, though it remains 0.0% below its July 2026 peak of $415,556. Over five years it is up 27.5% and over ten years up 106.8%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have Maine home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
+1.6% over one year, +27.5% over five years and +106.8% over ten years for the typical Maine home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical Maine home is up 283%. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the Maine housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical Maine home value is 0.0% below its July 2026 peak of $415,556 after it rose 1.6% over the past year; 25.8% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 45 days (national 53), and inventory is up 13.8% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for Maine was 15.1% from February 2007 to March 2012, and values took 61 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Maine?
The Maine market is warm right now, which means it slightly favors sellers: one of the three market signals points cooler than the national market. 25.8% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 45 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 13.8% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $98,297 of income, $29,487 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is Maine a buyer's or seller's market?
Maine leans toward sellers. Fewer listings are cutting prices than the national average (25.8% vs. 26.4%), homes take 45 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is up 13.8% from a year ago at 8K listings. One of those three signals points toward buyers.
What is the average rent in Maine?
In Portland, Maine's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $2,342 a month, up 2.4% over the past year and up 27.9% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among Maine cities we track, rents range from $1,367 to $2,492 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Maine?
Renting is cheaper month to month in Portland, Maine's largest metro. Typical rent is $2,342 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $2,778, a difference of $436 a month in favor of renting. The payment excludes property tax (1.17% of value in Maine), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Maine?
About $98,297 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median Maine household earns $68,810, so the typical household is $29,487 short. That is the #34 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $2,138 equals 37.3% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in Maine?
Among the Maine cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in Portland ($559,175) and the cheapest in Caribou ($167,622). Also at the top: Saco ($524,610), South Portland ($522,512), and Biddeford ($511,133). The city table above lists every tracked Maine city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does Maine compare with nearby states?
In the Northeast, the closest comparisons on price are Delaware ($406,074, up 1.3% in a year), Maryland ($428,308, flat in a year), and Vermont ($399,053, up 1.0% in a year). Maine's typical home is $415,552, up 1.6%. On affordability, Maine ranks #34 of 50 versus Delaware at #21, Maryland at #18, and Vermont at #39.
How current is the Maine housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →