Home Sales Continue to Surge in NH Residential Housing Market

New Hampshire’s residential real estate market continued its ascent in May, with the most single-family unit sales in eight years.

The number of residential sales in the state hit 1,361, marking an 11 percent increase from last year, according to data released recently by the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. It was the 18^th consecutive month of year-over-year unit sales increases and the most sold in May since 2005.

The median price of those sales jumped as well, up 5 percent from last May to $215,900, the highest median price for the month since 2010. And the sales volume in May, meaning the total dollars exchanged in those residential home sales, was $340.4 million, up 17 percent from last year and the marked the largest May volume since 2007.

Year to date through the first five months of 2013, unit sales are 11 percent ahead of last year, while median price is up 5 percent and sales volume ahead by 11 percent.

“This is as active as many of us have seen the market in years,” said 2013 NHAR President Bill Weidacher, a 30-year veteran of the real estate industry and broker at Keller Williams Metropolitan Realty in Bedford. “I continue to believe that it is only responsible to remain guarded in our optimism, but it’s very fair to say that the market is consistently heading in a positive direction.”

Weidacher and 30 other New Hampshire Realtors recently returned from Washington, D.C., where they took part in the National Association of Realtors annual Midyear Legislative Meetings. He said that there is similar optimism among his peers from around the country with regard to the market, but he also stressed that leaders in the real estate industry must remain vigilant in efforts to sustain the recovery.

Protecting the home mortgage interest and property tax deductions was among the priorities in meetings between Realtors and the four members of New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation.

“This is no time for us to be complacent,” Weidacher said. “Maybe now more than ever, we need to work to protect the benefits of homeownership, here and around the country.”

Condominium activity in New Hampshire continued to trend at an even greater rate than residential sales this year. Unit sales of condominiums were up 13 percent through the first five months of 2013 compared to the same period last year, while median price saw an 8 percent increase and sales volume a 20 percent jump.

Locally, seven of the 10 New Hampshire counties saw residential unit sales increases in May. Median price also increased in seven of 10 counties, with only Carroll, Cheshire and Sullivan counties witnessing price declines.