NH Home Sales Number, Prices Rise

By Dave Cummings

New Hampshire residential home sales continued a consistent upward trend in August, with 22 percent more sales than August 2011, according to data released this week by the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.

It marked the eighth time in eight months that sales were at least 15 percent ahead of last year’s pace, and brought the total number of 2012 sales to 8,413, 21 percent ahead of the 6,973 in the first eight months of 2011.

Additionally, for the first time this year, the median price of those monthly sales was level with the median price from the same month prior year ― $210,000 in August 2011, and $210,000 in August 2012.

“We do not predict the future, but it is fair to say that this improved median price trend is not surprising, considering the sales numbers we’ve been witnessing this year,” said NHAR President John Rice, a 40-year veteran of the real estate industry and an agent with Tate & Foss Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye. “Just as it will not be surprising if six months from now we are talking about median price in New Hampshire being on the rise.”

In fact, August median price did increase in six of the state’s 10 counties, compared to August 2011, including a 3.5 percent rise in the Hillsborough, the state’s largest county.

And all 10 experienced sales increases in August, with a range of 9 percent in Grafton County to 41 percent in Sullivan County.