BANGOR – Lured by natural beauty and economic sensibility, three families now are settling into the city’s new subdivision for low- to medium-income households.

Bangor Housing Development Corp., a nonprofit subsidiary of the Bangor Housing Authority, aimed to sell at least five homes to low-income families when construction at Sussex Pines began in September 2005. Increasing building costs and real-estate prices, however, may obstruct that goal, according to local housing experts.

The $4 million project, on an 18-acre parcel near the intersection of Ohio Street and Finson Road, targets comfortable but affordable living. While new homes sell for about $250,000 elsewhere, Sussex Pines offers units ranging from $155,000 to $180,000, Elsie Coffey, head of the housing authority, said. Because prices are equal to construction costs, the city can sell the homes at minimal cost.

The median price for a home in Maine was $191,000 in 2005, according to the Maine Real Estate Information System.

Prices at Sussex Pines are thousands of dollars higher than initially intended, however, because of rising values of copper and construction materials, Coffey said. That may affect the number of low-income families who can move in there.

“It went out of sight,” Coffey said Monday about construction costs.

Nestled between towering pine trees, the subdivision offers the benefits of living in Bangor without the detriments of noisy city life, Coffey said. Available city sewer and water systems make it ideal.

“Wildlife walks through there all the time,” she said last week.

The project was devised as a local solution to a nationwide housing shortage for families making less than $60,000 a year. While poor families receive government housing aid, medium-income brackets are excluded, according to Coffey.

“We have businesses coming to Bangor,” she said. “Now, we want to make it easy for families to come here.”

Stephen Mooers, director of housing services for Penquis CAP, is trying to find the desired five low-income buyers. Penquis CAP’s low-income requirement is based upon 80 percent of the local median income. In Bangor, that ranges from $30,450 per year for a single person to $43,500 for a family of four.

Considering a pricey real-estate scene, however, first-time buyers may not be able to afford Sussex Pines homes, Mooers said.

“With an expensive and competitive market, it’s not easy,” he said last week.

It takes more than low prices for low-income people to be able to purchase these units, Coffey said. Federal and state programs, including first-time homebuyer loans and down-payment subsidies, may help.

Even with financial backing, however, low-income people may not find the homes economically feasible. Aid programs require sound credit and work histories, and out of 75 possible requests, one buyer may fit the criteria, according to Mooers.

Of the seven 1,175- to 2,000-square-foot houses on site, three were sold this spring, three more are under contract, and one is still available.

Sussex Pines’ first customer completed a sale on May 23.

Tom and Nancy Small, the development’s second residents, arrived last week.

As Small, 62, helped his wife hang curtains in their new home, the retired couple recalled when they left their hometown of Bangor 10 years ago. After living in South Carolina for years, they longed to return.

They researched modular homes for six months, while eyeing the burgeoning Sussex Pines. Small, a former code enforcement officer in Bangor, said established homes were overpriced and required extensive repairs.

“We liked Sussex Pines when we first saw it,” he said last Wednesday as he walked past unpacked boxes. “We looked but couldn’t find a better deal.”

Organizations involved with Sussex Pines have been accommodating, they said. Representatives from Prestige Homes, the New Brunswick company that manufactured the buildings, will arrive this week to field any of their questions about the house.

“The home is great,” Nancy Small, 60, said. “It’s going to be wonderful once we get it together.”

The couple soon will have more neighbors.

Nine homes have been ordered, Coffey said. Three will be erected this summer, and six others will be installed once every three weeks starting in the fall. A total of 28 units will be in place sometime next year.