Rental rates in Hanover have increased slightly, Hanover landlord Jolin Salazar-Kish '88 Th'91 said.
A property that Salazar-Kish would have leased for $2,250 per month last year will be leased for $2,300 per month this year, she said.
Because of the recession, potential homeowners are more likely to delay purchasing a home, choosing to rent instead, she said. This increase in demand, she explained, may drive up prices.
"People who are otherwise qualified to make their own purchases are renting," she said. "They're waiting for the bottom to hit."
Many of the potential homeowners currently in the rental market also have more financial resources than is typical of people seeking to rent, which may contribute to a price increase, Salazar-Kish said.
Graduate students, though, should be able to find off-campus housing if they are willing to live farther from the College, Salazar-Kish said.
"The radius around the College that grad students are either willing to live in or are forced to live in gets bigger," Salazar-Kish said.
The average distance from campus may increase from three to five or six miles, she said.
Salazar-Kish said she did not believe the need to live farther from campus will cause people to reconsider applying to Dartmouth, saying that when she was a graduate student at the Thayer School of Engineering, some students lived 17 miles from campus.
"I don't think it was a deterrent to apply -- it was just a drag," she said. "That's what propelled me to start my company in the first place."
Property prices in Norwich, Vt., and Hanover have increased by about 3 percent, president and owner of Century 21 Energy Shield Realty Bill Sahlman said, although prices in the greater area have decreased.
"It mainly has to do with location, location, location," Sahlman said.
Properties for sale in Hanover are staying on the market longer than usual, Salazar-Kish said.
"Things are moving extraordinarily slowly," she said.
Overall, though, the local housing market should remain relatively steady, despite the economic climate, Salazar-Kish said.
"We're in a little microcosm in terms of our own real estate economy," Salazar-Kish said. "The number of students stays the same, and the number of people who need off-campus housing stays the same, especially while the College mothballs a couple of projects that would have created some housing."
The increased demand to rent housing has also been accompanied by an increase in units available to rent, Salazar-Kish said.
"More people are choosing to rent out that second home," she said.
Salazar-Kish said her company has attempted to expand off-campus housing options by developing many of its existing units, as well as by building and buying new apartments.
"We have plans with the town to expand a number of units," she said. "The town of Hanover is very interested in this in-fill concept."
The impact of the College's recently announced layoffs on the housing market is still unknown, Ned Redpath, owner of the Redpath and Co. branch of Coldwell Banker, said.
"Are some of those people going to leave the area?" Redpath said. "I don't know yet."
