September 2009 – The New Hampshire Real Estate Market

July 2009 – The New Hampshire Real Estate Market

And, most importantly, the Absorption Rate. I absolutely feel that this is the most important number to look at, and the rate is down across the entire state! The rankings have not changed… Carroll and Coos still lead the pack with 28.5 and 27.4 months, and Hillsborough is still the lowest with an almost-respectable 12.9! Maybe we will see a single digit rate in a few months… ?

Absorption Rate over Time:

June Homes Sold – A Study

Today I am in a numbers mood. So… I thought I would play with stats. As it is the last day of July, this month`s numbers are not quite complete, so I used June.

This following shows the June numbers for the last five years.  The important numbers are the median price, the number of sales, and the total sales volume.

The number of sales is down 37% from June 2005 to June 2009, while the sales volume is down 45%.  Looking a little closer at those sales numbers…

Sales up to $100,000 – UP 166%
Sales $100K – $200K – DOWN 32%
Sales $200K – $300K – DOWN 60%
Sales $300K – $400K – DOWN 22%
Sales $400,000 and up – DOWN 47%

The incredible jump of homes less than $100,000 is foreclosures. No doubt about it. And the $200,000 – $300,000 homes have taken the brunt of the downturn, which is pretty evident when you look at recent activity. Take real estate sales in Tuftonboro, for example. There are currently 40 properties on the market between $200,000 and $300,000, and only one lonely pending sale. Over the past 12 months, there have been four sales in this price range. Compare those figures with the $300,000 – $400,000 price range, with only 13 active listings, one pending sale, and seven sales in the past year.

The good news? If you are a buyer and are looking in the $200,000 – $300,000 price range, you certainly have the pick of the litter! If you are a seller (like one of my clients), well, competition is tough. BUT, homes are selling. Price it right and make sure your agent is advertising on the internet and is there for all showings. The summer selling season has really just begun!

June 2009 – The New Hampshire Real Estate Market

Well, it is officially summer! It will be very interesting to see what the summer real estate market will have in store for us.

Quick Stats:

As usual these days, there are plenty of active listings to go around.  Both Carroll and Belknap active listings are up about 7% over last month, but that is to be expected with new listings coming on for the summer.  Carroll County had a relatively strong month with Pendings increasing 7% and closings increasing 35% (woot, woot!!), while Belknap did not do quite as well with Pendings down 15% and closings down 10%.   Come on Belknap, stay with us!

Average Sales Price:

The Average Sales Price in Carroll County is down to $169,900. It was $179,000 the prior month and $200,500 this time last year. Average Days on Market:

This year Carroll County is quite sporadic with regards to the average time on the market. As you can see it has been quite up and down for the past few months. This month`s downward trend is a good sign… let`s hope it continues!

Absorption Rate:

And…the ever important absorption rate. Carroll and Coos still have the highest rates with 29.5 and 28.6 months of inventory on the market, respectively.  Hillsborough County once again has the lowest rate with 14.2 months.

The rates are up pretty much across the board.  I would like to think that it is because of the influx of new spring/summer listings. We shall see!

Statistics Copyright 2009 Northern New England Real Estate Network, Inc. The reproduction of these statistics is done with the permission of NNEREN. The statistics referenced herein are based solely upon listings submitted to the multiple listing service database of NNEREN and do not include all properties sold and marketed for sale. ALL INFORMATION DEEMED RELIABLE BUT NOT GUARANTEED. Any analysis or commentary related to these statistics is that of the commentator, and not that of NNEREN.

April 2009 – The New Hampshire Real Estate Market

The Northern New England Real Estate Network has put out their April statistics! That means it is time for the monthly review of the New Hampshire Real Estate Market.

Especially in today`s real estate climate, knowing what the market is doing is imperative to making smart decisions when it comes to buying or selling your New Hampshire property.  Looking for a particular statistic you do not see here? Contact us and we will do our best to research it for you!

Quick Stats (Carroll County):

As usual these days, there are plenty of listings to go around. However, while the number of active listings is up about 15%, there are almost double the amount of pending or contingent listings than last month (98 vs. 50), and closings were up 28%.  Looks like a spring rush to me!

Average Days on Market:

Looking at the Average Days on Market is a quick way of determining how ’soft’ the market is. Days on Market records how many days properties were actively on the market before they were sold. Generally speaking, the higher the DOM, the more likely it is a buyer’s market.
Do keep in mind that this number can be skewed in a number of ways. If a seller decides to take his property off the market for the winter, or decides to switch REALTORs, the DOM for that property will return to zero. It is common for properties that do not have accurate asking prices to come on and off the market numerous times.   If yo have any questions about the accuracy of a property’s DOM, be sure to ask your REALTOR to research.

You can see that April’s DOM dropped quite a bit and is significantly lower than last year. At 154 days it is still longer than we like to see, but it is an improvement over last year’s 201! I would like to think that this is because some sellers putting their property on the market in the past few months have been realistic with their pricing.  If it is priced right, it will sell!

Average Sales Price:

As you can see, the Average Sales Price has been lower than last year’s for the past few months.  Do keep in mind, though, that this not necessarily mean that the same house is going for less this year than it did last year.  It could also point to the fact that more less expensive homes are selling, and fewer more expensive homes are selling.

Absorption Rate:

In my mind, the Absorption Rate is the king of all real estate statistics. Simply put, if you have 50 homes on the market and 10 buyers per month, you have five months worth of inventory. From a seller’s point of view, the less inventory you have, the better!

A five month inventory would be nice… but not reality these days. The absorbtion rate has been steadily increasing since the start of the year.  Grafton and Coos counties have the highest rates, with 33.2 and 32 months of inventory, repsectively.  Hillsborough has the lowest rate as usual with 18.9 months.

Overall, there has not been significant change – for the worse or for the better – over the past few months.  It is still a great time to buy, but also a great time to sell as long as you price correctly!