Martha’s Vineyard faces profound housing challenges that result from its popularity and environmental constraints (most notably, being an island). Astronomical home prices and the lack of attainable rental units contribute to severe cost burden among year-round island residents and increasing incidence of homelessness. More than 60% of homes are set aside for seasonal use and short-term rentals make up 20% of the total housing stock. The island’s population is projected to be aging and declining over the coming decade, but housing needs will persist. An estimated 740 additional year-round homes will be needed in the next ten years to accommodate household growth, accommodate latent demand, compensate for loss of year-round units to seasonal conversion, and achieve a healthy vacancy rate. In addition, there are currently 2,775 low- and moderate-income households on the Island who are cost burdened. Many of these residents are essential to the island’s economy and community, so additional efforts are needed to secure affordability for these households through a combination of new construction, adaptive reuse, rental housing vouchers, or through acquisition and deed-restriction of existing units.
Martha's Vineyard Housing Overview
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) region includes the seven towns of Dukes County: six on Martha’s Vineyard plus Gosnold, on the Elizabeth Islands. (This snapshot focuses on the Vineyard and does not assess the unique and discrete needs of Gosnold, with a population of only 75 residents). Reachable only by boat or plane, Martha’s Vineyard boasts a vibrant artistic culture and scenic landscape that make it an attractive destination for tourists, seasonal vacationers, remote workers, and year-round residents. Growing population, seasonal tourism, speculative investment, and the finite size of the island contribute to increasing demand for housing and increasing development pressure. Much of the island is already built up and considerable demand is placed on the remaining available land for both development, conservation, and aquifer-protection purposes.
Year-round housing makes up only about 39% of the total Island housing stock, according to ACS 2018-2022 5-year estimates. Between 2012 and 2022, year-round occupied housing stock increased by about 19%, (1,117 units), while the number of seasonal units declined by around 630 and population increased by 24%. However, some of these changes may be temporary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in a loss of wages for year-round residents and, by many reports, an influx of remote workers who relocated to seasonal or second homes. One-fifth of homes in the Island are actively used for short-term rentals; in 2023 the average nightly rate was $930 according to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission analysis of Avenu Insights and Analytics data. An owner would need to rent a home for just two nights per month to generate the same amount of revenue as a year-long lease at the median gross monthly rent for the island.
Like in many seasonal tourist destinations, permanent residents compete with vacation renters, second homebuyers and investors for the supply of housing available. Employer-based housing is on the rise as a temporary solution, with many employers, including critical service providers such as the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, seeking to acquire or develop housing units for their employees in order to meet staffing needs. Although important for meeting immediate needs, it does not provide long-term housing solutions. Many tenants at a wide range of income levels do not have stable year-round housing, doing the “island shuffle,” vacating their winter housing during the peak tourist season so that owners can rent the unit to off-island visitors.
Housing insecurity is an increasing problem for service workers, municipal employees, and essential workers; and homelessness has been a persistent and growing problem. Harbor Homes MV, the island’s nonprofit homeless services and homelessness prevention provider, reports that 15% of the people receiving their services last year were employed by an Island municipality. Another 35% were working locally for other employers. Homeownership is almost completely out of reach for most working households on Martha’s Vineyard: the median home sale price was over $1.4 million in 2024, and fewer than 10% of sales would have been affordable to a household with median income in 2023.
The 2024 Martha’s Vineyard Housing Needs Assessment asserts that “the most pressing housing need continues to be year-round rental housing that is affordable to people with a wide range of income levels who are priced out of the Island’s exorbitant housing market, with a continued focus on the most vulnerable residents.” The Needs Assessment found that very few renters are able to rely on conventional rented units: “According to the official SHI, a total of 498 units, or 31% of the Island’s total rental housing stock, involves government subsidies or financing. According to the ACS, another 405 units, or 25%, involve tenants who did not pay rent, likely involving family and friends.” This means that fewer than half of the renters on the island are in an unrestricted unit for which they are paying rent.
Since 1990, more than 500 affordable rental and homeownership units have been developed on Martha’s Vineyard. However, the island is losing naturally occurring affordable year-round units far faster than it is producing deed-restricted replacements. The Needs Assessment highlights a critical need for more workforce housing. However, development has historically been constrained by restrictive zoning that limits development as well as the challenges of “obtaining site control and sufficient densities to make development feasible, both financially and politically.” Similar to other island communities, Martha’s Vineyard also deals with aging and limited public infrastructure, and climate-change exacerbated development challenges like sea-level rise and existential water quality issues.
Projections and Housing Needs
While the population of Martha’s Vineyard has grown each decade since 1990, UMDI projects that the island’s population is near its peak and is likely to decline in the coming decade, by 1.9% to 4.5%. Nearly every age group is projected to have fewer people by 2035, except for residents age 80 and over, who are projected to increase by about 1,000 people.
Despite population decline, the number of households is projected to grow by about 4.6% in the Competing and Growing scenario, driven largely by the growth of Oldest Adult households. All households age groups under 80 are projected to see declining households or modest increases, whereas there are projected to be an additional 700 households headed by someone 80 or older.
EOHLC estimates that Martha’s Vineyard needs to add approximately 740 homes to the year-round supply over the next decade to accommodate latent demand, compensate for loss of year-round units to seasonal conversion, and achieve a healthy vacancy rate. This figure represents the increase in units needed to achieve an adequate overall supply of homes for the projected population. Latent demand alone accounts for more than half of this number (430 homes). Compensating for seasonal conversions will require 180 homes, while achieving healthy vacancy rates will require 80 new for-sale homes and 70 for-rent homes. Adequate supply alone will not solve the affordability problem. Additional efforts will be needed to ensure that new and existing year-round units are preserved for low- and moderate-income households who are essential to the Island’s community and economy.
Martha's Vineyard Housing Strategies
The region and its member municipalities are pursuing multiple advocacy, policy, and program strategies to address its growing housing challenges. MVC and many towns in the region are strong advocates for the Local Option Real Estate Transfer Fee, which would generate municipal revenue from real estate transactions that could be used to support housing affordability on the islands. The Healthy Aging Martha’s Vineyard Homesharing Pilot Program offers a creative solution that cuts across a variety of the region’s housing challenges. The program matches homes with spare rooms owned by older adults, who may be unable to downsize and remain in the community, with qualified individuals in need of affordable housing, with a priority for healthcare workers. A Lease-to-Locals program pilot which converts short-term rentals to year-round rentals through cash incentives to landlords, modeled on successful programs in Provincetown and Nantucket, launches in August 2025.
External Resources
- Martha’s Vineyard Commission www.mvcommission.org
- Martha’s Vineyard Housing Needs Assessment. https://www.mvcommission.org/sites/default/files/docs/MV%20Housing%20Needs%20Assessment%20Update%20September%202024%20FINAL_0.pdf
- Martha’s Vineyard Commission. The Housing Situation on Martha’s Vineyard. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from https://www.mvcommission.org/housing-situation-marthas-vineyard