New Hampshire Seacoast Sees Record High-End Sales In April

PORTSMOUTH, NH — Sales of $1 million-dollar-plus homes in the 13-sample Seacoast communities set a new April record, while the rest of the spring real estate market struggled to gain traction, according to statistics just released by the Seacoast Board of REALTORS.

The 13 sample Seacoast communities are Exeter, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, New Castle, Newfields, Newington, North Hampton, Newmarket, Portsmouth, Rye, Seabrook, and Stratham.

For the first time since the SBR began keeping records in 2007, there were no sales of less than $400,000. By contrast, there were 17 sales of $1 million dollars or more.

Even though active listings were up 26.8 percent from a year ago, the 44 transactions closed were just three sales better than 2023. The 50 pending sales were the fewest for April since 2011. The monthly median sale price is $831,000, the highest since November 2023 and up 10.8 percent from last year.

The biggest sale for the month came in Newington at 11 Shipwright Way, a seven-bedroom, 7,623 square foot, waterfront residence that closed at $5.25 million. This was a modern Newington record.

For the first four months of 2024, single-family sales are up 2.1 percent, and the median sale price of $770,000 is up 16.7 percent from last year.

There were 54 condominium sales in April, up 20 percent from 2023. The monthly median sales price was a modest $534,950, the lowest since October 2023. The biggest condominium sale came at 50 Maplewood Ave. in Portsmouth, a two-bedroom, 2,056 square-foot unit closing at $1.766 million. All eight of the month’s $1 million-dollar-plus condominium sales were in Portsmouth.

For the year, condominium sales are up a healthy 21.6 percent, while the median sale price of $585,000 is up 6.5 percent.

“We continue to see strong demand for Seacoast real estate,” said Seacoast Board of Realtors President Lynn Lagasse. “But limited inventory, rising prices and interest rates remain a challenge to potential buyers.”

Submitted by John Rice, Chief Statistician, the Seacoast Board of REALTORS.