From baby boomers to young professionals, these are the Maine communities buyers are predicted to flock to in 2026.
Each year, certain places in Maine see a surge in demand and stand out as some of the state’s hottest real estate markets.
Hampden was the most-desired town in the state last year, according to an annual list created by Scarborough-based Maine Life Real Estate. The list is based on unit sales data and notable median price adjustments.
Median sales prices surged 15% in Hampden in 2024 to reach more than $377,000 and the number of units sold saw a 50% spike.
Southern Maine towns — including Kennebunkport, Biddeford and York — accounted for the majority of the communities on the 2024 list, as the number of properties sold and the median sale prices both rose in those regions.
We asked three real estate agents across the state to predict what regions will see high demand in 2026. Here’s what they had to say.
Portland
“Portland is like nowhere else in the state when it comes to real estate,” said Harrison Wolfington, a partner broker at Farmingdale-based Laflin & Wolfington Realty. “It’s a hot market with lots of stuff going on.”
This demand, coupled with limited supply, drove median home prices up to nearly $550,000 earlier this year when the average Portland home cost roughly $325,000 in 2019, according to Zillow.
Portland has increasingly become the home base for tech startups — and the young executives who work there — as well as the forthcoming Roux Institute, which has already started to generate interest in local real estate despite still being under construction, according to Tom Landry, broker and owner of the Landry Team at Benchmark Real Estate.
“These little micro tech startups that are happening that have 15 or 30 employees and they’re all making $100,000 to 200,000 a year,” Landry said. “These are jobs that did not exist here before — they were in Boston, DC and New York, — but now they do.”
Aside from young professionals, Portland is also growing in popularity with baby boomers, who make up the largest percentage of Maine’s population, as they’re looking to “re-urbanize” as they age, Landry said.
Baby boomers no longer need larger suburban homes with expansive yards and are instead looking to downsize to urban areas with easy access to public transportation, health care and other resources they could need as they age, Landry said. Portland offers all of those things.
Additionally, the recent closures of more rural hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities limit where people who anticipate needing that care can go when it’s time to downsize. For example, Northern Light Health closing its Inland Hospital in Waterville earlier this year may deter buyers from that area.
“Older people are coming back to Portland because they want to be close to the really only high level hospital in Maine, which is Maine Medical Center,” Landry said. “It’s sad to say goodbye to the farm or the country house, but many need to be close to medical care.”
Southern midcoast
Coastal communities such as Brunswick, Bath and Damariscotta are drawing people who are priced out of Portland but still want to be within an hour’s drive of it.
The southern midcoast also appeals to out-of-state buyers looking for a picturesque Maine town with good schools and a walkable downtown with shops and restaurants, Landry said.
Landry has seen the southern midcoast attracting more of these types of buyers in recent years, and expects that trend to continue into 2026.
“These aren’t just seasonal communities anymore,” Landry said. “These downtowns are different than they were 20 years ago and therefore, they’re attracting a different type of person.”
Aside from offering cheaper real estates, communities along the midcoast could have lower taxes, which entices those who may own property in Portland or elsewhere and are feeling the squeeze of rising valuations and taxes, Landry said.
“If I don’t love the taxes in Portland anymore, I’m gonna cash out and move into something I can get for a third of the price of what I’m selling,” Landry said.
The appeal of smaller but still bustling communities with easy access to Portland could stretch up the I-95 and I-925 corridors to as far as Augusta, Hallowell and Gardiner, Wolfington said.
“The sale prices in Augusta are half of what they are in Portland and you can get to Portland in an hour,” Wolfington said. “You could work in Portland and commute from Augusta if you wanted to.”
Greater Bangor
The healthy and growing real estate sales in Hampden, Hermon, and Bangor will likely continue into next year, Julie Williams, broker, owner & CEO of Bangor-based ERA Dawson-Bradford Co. Realtors, predicted.
This is, in part, because those areas are seeing the construction of new multi-units buildings, condominiums and single-family homes, unlike Brewer and Orono.
“[The Bangor area] continues to be an important service center,” Williams said. “Between health care, education, and financial services headquarters, and small businesses, there are so many great things to celebrate about this area.”
The number of home sales in Bangor rose more than 5% from 2024 to 2025 while average sale prices saw a $5,000 bump to reach $275,000, according to Williams.
Bangor, Hampden and Hermon also saw more expensive real estate change hands this year than the year before. In Hampden, for example, a $1.8 million home was the most expensive real estate sale this year; last year it was $870,500.
Williams expects sales in the Bangor area will remain strong next year because interest rates are expected to inch down and more listings will appear on the market. However, Bangor won’t flip to a buyer’s market yet.
“Prices will continue to increase at a low and steady rate — likely 3% to 6% growth in most markets in the greater Bangor area,” Williams said.
Sellers in Bangor will have to be careful about overpricing their homes next year, which could result in price cuts because it doesn’t match the current market, Williams said. This was an issue other realtors across the state reported seeing, as sellers were seeking pandemic-era prices in a market that had cooled off.
“In the end, real estate transactions happen when a buyer and a seller can come to an agreed-upon price, and that’s what keeps things moving in this industry,” Williams said. “It looks like the real estate market will be healthy in 2026 that will benefit both buyers and sellers.”