Sell Your Commercial Property In Vermont

The Vermont rental market at a glance

Vermont had 73,337 renter households in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey, or 26.8% of 273,416 occupied homes. Owners hold the other 73.2%. Larger rental buildings are a small slice of Vermont's stock: just 37,007 housing units, 10.9% of the total, sit in buildings of five or more units, per ACS table B25024.

Vermont rental vacancy stood at 3.0% in the 2020-2024 DP04 housing profile. Statewide median household income was $81,203, and the $1,234 median gross rent equals roughly 18.2% of a typical household's annual income. Renters themselves feel more strain: 48.4% of Vermont renter households paid 30% or more of income on rent, per ACS table B25070.

Five-year trends in Vermont

Vermont median gross rent rose 25.3% between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 ACS periods, from $985 to $1,234 a month. Vermont median household income grew faster, up 31.0% over the same span, from $61,973 to $81,203. Income outran rent by 5.7 percentage points statewide.

Vermont lost 2,693 renter households between the two periods, a 3.5% decline, even as units in five-plus buildings rose 1.1%, adding 417 units statewide. Vermont's population grew 3.7% and employment 3.2% over the same five years, per ACS tables B01003 and B23025.

Chittenden County, Vermont's most populous county, saw rent climb faster than the state: up 31.5% to $1,646 a month, per its own 2020-2024 ACS figures.

Vermont county comparison

Among the Vermont counties profiled here, Chittenden County posts the highest median gross rent, at $1,646 a month, and the tightest rental vacancy, at 1.3%, against Vermont's statewide 3.0%.

Chittenden County's 36.1% renter share and 21.4% share of units in five-plus buildings both run well above Vermont's statewide figures of 26.8% and 10.9%, reflecting Burlington's role as Vermont's largest rental market.

Vermont landlord, tax and transfer rules

Vermont sets no statewide cap on rent increases. Under 9 V.S.A. Section 4455(b), an increase takes effect on the first day of the rental period following at least 60 days' actual notice to the tenant.

Vermont caps no dollar amount on a residential security deposit under 9 V.S.A. Section 4461. A landlord must return it with an itemized statement within 14 days of the tenant vacating, or forfeit the right to withhold any of it. Section 4461(f) matters at a closing: when a landlord's interest terminates, the deposit transfers to the new landlord, who must give the tenant actual notice of the transfer.

Vermont appraises rental property at fair market value each April 1 under 32 V.S.A. Section 4041, with no acquisition-value cap. Vermont apartment buildings are billed as non-homestead property, combining a town's municipal rate with a statewide education rate set per $100 of appraised value; the FY2027 non-homestead base education rate is $1.643 per $100 before each town's equalization adjustment.

Vermont's property transfer tax, 32 V.S.A. Section 9602, runs 1.25% of the value transferred on most sales, with a 3.4% rate reserved for specific non-homestead residential transfers.

What this means if you sell in Vermont

Owners who sell commercial property in Vermont are priced on rent rolls, vacancy and the next tax bill, just as in Chittenden County, where 1.3% vacancy reads very differently to a buyer than Vermont's 3.0% statewide average.

Taxes deserve a close look. Because Vermont apartment buildings carry both a municipal rate and a statewide education rate under 32 V.S.A. Section 4041, and because the transfer tax under Section 9602 can run 1.25% to 3.4%, we model both lines before setting a price.

We review Vermont buildings of five or more units in Chittenden County and across the rest of Vermont. Send the rent roll and the latest Vermont tax statement, and we will set the property against these figures, including the April 1 fair-market-value appraisal and the town-by-town education rate behind it.