CONCORD, NH – The price of a single-family home in New Hampshire in May was the highest it’s been in 11 months, but positive indicators including listings and inventory are on the rise, too.
The median sales price for a single-family home in New Hampshire in May was $540,000, according to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors monthly market report. That’s up from $525,000 a year ago and $528,000 in April. Median means that half of the homes in May closed for less, and half for more.
Closed sales were down 6.4% from 12 months ago (981 this year compared to 1,048 in 2024), but pending sales were up 18% (1,420 compared to 1,203), new listings were up 7% (1,983 vs. 1,853), and overall homes for sale were up 21.2%, with 2,118 listed at the end of May, compared to 1,748 a year ago.
Inventory, one of the biggest factors in price, was up to 2.1 from 1.8 a year ago, meaning that if all the homes on the market were sold at the pace they’re selling now, with no new ones added, it would take 2.1 months for them to sell. A 6-month inventory is considered necessary for a healthy housing market, but New Hampshire hasn’t seen that number for almost a decade. The last time inventory was above 6 months was June 2016. In July that year it dropped to 5.9, and steadily decreased. It dropped below 2 in June 2020, and didn’t reach it again until September 2023. Since then, it’s bounced just above and below 2.
On the downside, the affordability index in may was at 55, which means that the state’s median income is 55% of what’s needed to meet the monthly cost of a median-priced home, including mortgage payment, property tax and insurance. It was 56 in May 2024.
Buyers in May paid 101% of list price, down from 102.2% in May 2024. Houses stayed on the market for an average 24 days, the same as in May 2024.
In Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester and Nashua, median sales price was down from a year ago, to $550,000 from $570,000. But it was still higher than the state median. Sales were down as well, 17.8%, with 221 single-family homes sold in the county compared to 229 a year ago.
The lowest single-family home MSP in the state was in far northern Coos County, $302,500 for 28 sales, compared to $289,000 for 29 sales in May 2024.
The most expensive county to buy a home in was Rockingham, which includes the coast, with an MSP of $710,000 for 212 sales, compared to $649,950 for 228 sales the year before.
Those hoping for a bargain in the traditionally less expensive, but much smaller, condo/townhouse market could find a bargain in May, depending on where they shopped. Median price was $449,950, for an affordability index of 66. That’s compared to a median sales price of $443,500 a year ago, with the same affordability index.
But the median price is skewed by the smaller market and wildly different prices across the state. For instance, Coos County had one condo sale in May, at a price of $610,000; Rockingham County’s MSP was $572,376 for 146 sales. But in Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester and Nashua, the median sales price was $386,500 for 116 sales. The MSP in Cheshire County, where seven properties were sold in May, was $273,000.
Inventory for condo/townhouse properties was the same as single-family homes – 2.1 in May, compared to 1.8 a year ago.
As with single-family homes, closed sales were down from the previous May (-5.3%, 390 vs. 412), but new listings (0.2%, 520 vs. 519), pending sales (11.7%, 409 vs. 366) and overall properties for sale (16.8%, 703 vs. 602), were up.
Condo/townhouse buyers paid 100.8% of list price in May, compared to 101% a year ago. Properties stayed on the market an average 34 days, compared to 27 a year ago.
Nationally, the median sales price for a single-family home was $414,000, representing the 22nd straight month it’s gone up, and a record high for May. Closings were down 0.5% from a year ago, and down 2.0% year-over-year. Inventory is 4.4, with 1.45 million properties listed, up 9% from April and 20.8% from May 2024.