New Hampshire’s housing market cooled off slightly in September, though it is still much hotter than it was at this time last year.
Year-over-year sales declined again for the fourth straight month, this time by 8.5%, and the median price was $400,000, a 14.1% increase from last year – the ninth double-digit increase this year.
But on a month-to-month basis, the median is $10,000 lower than August’s, when the it was $410,000. The median price of a single-family home in New Hampshire has been $400,000 or more since May.
Once again, those homes sold for more than the asking price, but at a 1.8% margin, compared to a 4.4% margin in June. And they’ve taken a bit more time to sell: 21 days in September as opposed to only 18 days in June and July, but it’s still a much faster rate than September 2020, when homes were on the market for an average of 45 days.
A continued shortage of inventory has been driving the high prices and quick sales. There were 2,049 homes on the market in September, 21.2% less than last September, and over 350 fewer than in August. That represents 1.3 months of inventory, down by about 10 days in August. There was a 3.7-month inventory last September.
In terms of hot and cold markets, Merrimack County saw the biggest jump in sales last month — 27%, with a median price of $399,000, a 21% increase. Coos County cooled off the most, with a 29.8% drop in sales but the biggest increase — 33.4% — in median price, which stood at $170,000, lowest among the counties. Rockingham County’s median price remains the highest, with a $515,000 median price, though prices there only” climbed by nearly 11% from last year.
Homes in Hillsborough County went fastest – 17 days, down from 26 last year – and Sullivan County’s went in an average of 21 days, a whopping 42 days fewer than the 63-day average recorded last September.
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