After four consecutive months of steady residential sales gains in New Hampshire, November unit sales saw a slight decline compared to the same month a year ago, according to data released this week by the New Hampshire Association of REALTORS (NHAR).
The median price of those homes, meanwhile, decreased by 4 percent in November.
There were 822 homes sold in November 2011, 2.5 percent behind the 843 sold in November 2010. That came following jumps of 29 percent, 14 percent, 13 percent and 14 percent in the four months prior. Year to date sales for this year, meanwhile, were 1.2 percent above those through the first 11 months of 2010: 9,790 compared to 9,674.
“We would expect to end 2011 a shade ahead of 2010 in terms of the number of residential homes sold,” said NHAR President Tom Riley, a 35-year veteran of the real estate industry and president of Riley Enterprises in Bedford. “This supports our contention that while we are not making huge gains, there seems to be a stabilization underway that we hope speaks to the early stages of a slow recovery, both in the New Hampshire housing market and the broader economy.”
The state’s November residential median price dropped from $202,000 in 2010 to $193,450 in 2011. Year to date, the $203,000 median sale price in 2011 is 6 percent below the $215,000 through November of 2010.
In local markets, November unit sales increased in five of the state’s 10 counties: 30 percent in Cheshire, 15 percent in Carroll, 14 percent in Belknap, 10 percent in Sullivan and 3 percent in Rockingham. New Hampshire’s largest county, Hillsborough, saw just a 0.5 percent November vs. November decline.
Median price fell in all counties other than Rockingham, which saw a dramatic increase in November compared to a year ago: a 52 percent jump, from $159,900 in November 2010 to $242,500 in November 2011.
November 2011 data residential
As for the number of November condominium sales in New Hampshire, there was a slight increase from 2010 (187) to 2011 (189), while the median price of those sales increased 4 percent, from $160,000 to $166,000.
Source: Dave Cummings, NHAR Director of Communications
