If you're comparing Topsham to other Midcoast towns right now, the numbers don't line up the way you'd expect. The town just approved a 183-unit apartment building on Union Park Road. A developer wants to build across 111 acres on Meadow Cross Road. New-construction neighborhoods like Eagle River and Mallett Woods are already selling build-to-order ranch homes. Meanwhile, Topsham property owners are absorbing a tax increase of more than 9 percent this year, one of the steepest jumps the town has seen in recent memory.
More housing is supposed to ease price and tax pressure over time by widening the base everyone pays into. In Topsham, that's not happening yet, and the reason has nothing to do with how much is getting built. It has to do with how each project pays its way in.
Where the Nine Percent Actually Came From
Topsham voters approved a $14.84 million municipal budget at the town meeting on May 13, 2026, which by itself raised the town's portion of the tax bill by roughly 5 percent. Town Manager Mark Waltz pointed to wages and health insurance costs for town employees as the biggest driver, along with $750,000 set aside for road paving after a rough spring.
The bigger number came from the school district. On June 9, 2026, voters across Topsham, Harpswell, Bowdoin, and Bowdoinham approved a $61.2 million budget for School Administrative District 75. That budget alone is projected to raise taxes by roughly 9 percent in Topsham, compared with 6 percent in Harpswell, close to 10 percent in Bowdoinham, and just under 11 percent in Bowdoin. Staff salaries and health insurance again did most of the work. Layer in the Sagadahoc County assessment and you land on the combined figure town officials had been flagging since spring: more than a 9 percent increase once every piece was final.
None of that is connected to the apartment building or the new subdivisions. It's payroll and benefits, plain and simple, and it moves independently of how many new houses go up.
A 183-Unit Building That Won't Touch Your Tax Rate for Years
Here's where the building boom actually intersects with your tax bill, and it's not the way most buyers assume.
According to The Portland Press Herald, in November 2025, Topsham voters approved a tax increment financing district to help fund a four-story, 183-unit apartment building on Union Park Road. The project comes from Holman Homes, Lumen Design and Development, and Solhem Companies, the same group behind the Sandpiper Residences on Brunswick Landing. The unit mix breaks down like this:
- 10 units capped for households earning no more than 80 percent of area median income
- 51 units capped for households earning no more than 120 percent of area median income
- roughly 122 units planned at market rate
Workers employed in Topsham get first preference in leasing.
Here's the part that matters for your tax bill. Under the financing agreement, the town captures all the new tax revenue generated by the increased assessed value inside the roughly 4-acre district. Sixty percent of that revenue goes back to the developer as reimbursement. Only 40 percent flows to town projects like infrastructure, schools, and public safety. In May 2026, the town meeting passed a technical amendment narrowing the TIF boundary to just the building footprint and parking area, a change MaineHousing required before the project could move forward.
That structure is standard for financing workforce housing that wouldn't otherwise get built. It's also why 183 new units on Union Park Road won't show up as relief on anyone else's bill anytime soon. The added assessed value exists, but most of the tax revenue it generates for years is earmarked for repaying the people who built it, not for lowering your rate.
The Growth That Actually Does Move Your Tax Base
Compare that to what's happening elsewhere in town. StoneX Construction LLC filed a pre-application in February 2026 to build a residential subdivision across roughly 111 acres on Meadow Cross Road. Next Generation Developers LLC secured a stormwater management agreement with the town for the Emily Street Extension subdivision. Neither of these carries TIF protection. Once those lots are built, sold, and assessed, their full value lands on the general tax roll immediately, the same way lots are landing as they sell in new-construction neighborhoods like Eagle River and Mallett Woods.
That's the distinction worth carrying into any comparison you make between Topsham and a neighboring town: not all new housing affects your tax bill the same way. A TIF-financed project adds units and diversifies the housing stock, but its tax contribution is largely diverted for a set period. A conventional subdivision adds to the base the moment it's assessed. If you're trying to predict where Topsham's tax trajectory goes from here, the untethered subdivisions matter more than the headline apartment number.
Why the "Average Price" You're Seeing Depends on Who's Counting
This same split, older housing stock next to new construction, shows up in the price data too, and it explains why you'll see different numbers depending on where you look.
As of July 2026, the median list price for homes in Topsham sits at $494,000, with a median 32 days on market, down 38 percent from where it stood in July 2025. At 25 percent down, that median home works out to roughly $2,860 a month, which assumes a household income near $98,200 if that payment stays at 35 percent of monthly income. Brokerage-side averages you'll find elsewhere run noticeably higher, closer to $577,000 to $606,000, largely because those figures average in new-construction listings from neighborhoods like Eagle River and Mallett Woods alongside the town's older housing stock.
Closed sales from late July 2026 show exactly why the gap exists. A two-bedroom condo on Ofarrell Street closed at $93,000. A five-bedroom, 4,558-square-foot home on Winter Street closed the same week at $860,000. Both are real transactions in the same town in the same seven-day window. Anyone quoting you a single average price for "Topsham" is flattening two very different markets into one number.
The speed isn't new, either. Back in October 2025, Redfin recorded homes selling in a median of 17 days, down from 21 the year before, with 11 sales that month compared to just 3 the previous October. Different season, different snapshot, same pattern: demand has stayed ahead of supply for a while now, tax increases and all.
What This Means If You're Cross-Shopping Topsham
If you're weighing Topsham against another town in Southern or Central Maine, the price alone won't tell you what you need to know. Ask what's driving the number you're looking at. A listing near Eagle River or Mallett Woods reflects new-construction pricing. A listing in an older neighborhood closer to downtown will price closer to the $494,000 median and may carry a different renovation timeline.
Budget for the tax trajectory, not just this year's bill. The 9 percent increase came from structural costs, salaries and health insurance, that don't reverse the following year. If you're buying near Union Park Road expecting the new apartment building to ease your assessment soon, understand that most of its tax contribution is earmarked to the developer for the life of the TIF district. If you're buying near Meadow Cross Road or the Emily Street Extension once those subdivisions are built out, that new value hits the general tax roll right away and has a better shot at actually widening the base.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Directly
Will the Union Park Road apartments eventually lower my taxes? Some of the new tax revenue from that development already goes toward town infrastructure, schools, and public safety, since 40 percent of the captured revenue is directed there now. The bigger relief, if it comes, shows up after the TIF district's obligations to the developer are satisfied.
Does a subdivision that's still in pre-application, like Meadow Cross Road, affect my taxes today? Not yet. Nothing changes on the tax roll until lots are approved, built, and assessed. It's a factor to watch over the next few years, not this year's bill.
Why do different sites list such different average prices for Topsham? Most of the spread comes from what's included in the sample. A median pulled from the full range of listings, older homes and condos included, will read lower than an average pulled heavily from new-construction neighborhoods.
If you're trying to figure out what a specific Topsham neighborhood, or a specific tax scenario, actually means for your budget, that's exactly the kind of question worth talking through before you write an offer. Shivam Kumar works across Topsham, Brunswick, and the surrounding towns every week and can walk you through what a given listing's price and tax history actually mean for your numbers. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
