For those wondering whether the local housing market is alive and well, recent multi-unit development projects throughout our area demonstrate that, yes, the 2008 housing market collapse and resulting years-long slump is history.

Single-family housing has been steadily rebounding, and we’re seeing a development boom in multi-unit projects of all kinds around the area. From Windham to Westbrook to Scarborough, developers are adding apartment buildings, as well as village-style arrangements, which incorporate a cluster of apartments and single-family homes along with designated open space.

Blue Spruce Farm, located on Spring Street in Westbrook, is an example of the building boom. Risbara Bros. Construction has already erected four 12-unit apartment buildings and 10 new homes, with more planned for the 48-acre parcel located on Spring Street across from Twin Falls Golf Club. What we find amazing is that tenants are flocking to the project, even while contractors are still on site. As of last week, 73 percent of the units were already leased.

Another Westbrook development project – a 23-duplex condominium project under construction at the former Prides Corner Elementary School on Pride Street – is also selling at a rapid pace, according to brokers for the property owned by Vincent Maietta. Half of the units have been sold, and the first tenants won’t move in until July.

“It’s an indication of pent-up demand,” said Marie Flaherty, the project’s real estate broker. “That demographic has been ready.”

The project in Windham is a 55-plus apartment complex to be built on a side road close to North Windham’s busy commercial strip. The complex would comprise 11 buildings. Similar to the Prides Corner Westbrook project, the developer is filling in an empty space in the landscape, otherwise known as infill development. This type of project helps to reduce urban sprawl, focusing growth into areas already built up.

In Scarborough, the owner of the Eastern Village development near Oak Hill is seeking Planning Board approval to add 54 apartments in eight buildings to the 154-acre property built in 2005 that now features mostly single-family homes. The apartment complex will feature 49 one-bedroom units and five two-bedrooms.

These four projects, we have no doubt, will be fully inhabited when completed. Their popularity shows that the demand for what’s considered to be an affordable price point is there. The Risbara project is asking $1,100 a month for the one-bedrooms and $1,400 for the two-bedrooms. The Maietta condos are selling between $253,000 and $293,000. Prices for Eastern Village and the Windham development are not yet known.

These prices may not be affordable for everyone, but they’re surely an improvement on what you can get in Portland. Homeowners there must pony up not only for exorbitant asking prices, but also for high yearly property tax rates.

Because of these market forces, we suggest Greater Portland town and city officials think hard about how they want to guide development because, as these projects attest, the lack of affordable housing in Portland is becoming a issue for all areas within commuting distance of the city. Comprehensive master plans, which guide growth but are notoriously out of date, need to be reconsidered by town residents. Besides planning for the future, code and planning departments need to be prepared to handle more developers’ queries and approval requests. We need avoid the log jam that has resulted in spiraling prices in Portland.

Sure, it’s sad to see a wide-open landscape – such as the former farm in Westbrook – be lost forever, but people need a place to live, and we’d rather see the loss of a farm field than the local economy fracture because of a lack of housing.

-John Balentine, managing editor