CONCORD, NH – Single-family home prices in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties are tens of thousands above those in the state’s other eight counties, continuing to push the state’s median sales price to a place out of reach for many.
Sales indicators in July continued to loosen slightly in the super tight New Hampshire single-family home market, but median sales price for a single-family home in New Hampshire in July remained well above the national average, at $545,000, according to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors monthly market report. The national median is a record $435,300. Median means that half of the properties sold in July closed at a higher price, half at a lower price.
The state’s July MSP was up 2.8% from July 2024, when it was $530,000, but down from June’s $565,000.
The median sales price for a single-family home in Hillsborough County in July was $585,500, and in Rockingham it was a whopping $669,000. The two counties, which account for about half of the state’s population, account for 47.5% of the state’s home sales so far this year. The eight other counties all had MSPs below the state median.
The New Hampshire affordability index for July was 55, which means that the state’s median income is 55% of what’s needed to afford a median-priced home based on a monthly payment that includes mortgage, insurance and property tax. June’s affordability index was an all-time low 53, and July 2024’s was 57.
Key sales indicators for the second month in a row showed the market may be loosening a little.
The most significant positive sign continues to be inventory, with a 2.5 months’ supply for the second month in a row. That means that if all the properties on the market sold at the same pace they were selling now, with no new ones added, it would take 2.5 months to sell them. While an ideal inventory is six months’, the last time inventory was 2.5 or higher was November 2019, when it was 2.9. [June’s inventory was reported at 2.3 last month, but has been adjusted].
There were 1,388 closed sales for existing single-family homes in July, up 8.7% from 1,277 a year ago, and 4.8% from 1,321 in June.
Other indicators that increased compared to July 2024 were pending sales [+20.7%], new listings [+17.6%], and overall homes for sale [+28.3%].
Buyers got more of a break in July than the year before, with homes staying on the market a few days longer – 21 as opposed to July 2024’s 18 – and they paid an average 100.5% of list price compared to the 101.6% paid a year before.
The much smaller condo/townhouse market showed the same trends. The median sales price of a condo/townhouse property in July was $425,000, up from $406,250 a year ago and down slightly from $426,500 in June.
The affordability index was 71, compared to 74 a year ago and 70 last month.
Inventory was 2.3, the same as it was in June, and up from 2.0 in July 2024. There were year-over-year increases in closed sales [12.5%], pending sales [7.8%], new listings [6.6%], and overall properties for sale 19.3%.
Buyers paid an average 100% of listing price, down from 101.4% a year ago. Homes stayed on the market for an average 26 days, one less than in July 2024, when it was 27.
Hillsborough County state’s second-most expensive
In Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester and Nashua, the $585,500 median sales price for a home in July was up from $542,000 in July 2024. It was the second-most expensive county to buy a single-family home in July, after Rockingham. The county year-to-date MSP is $555,000.
The state’s most populous county, with about 427,000 residents, also had the highest number of home sales, with 350 single-family home closings in July, compared to 315 a year ago, for an 11.1% increase. There have been 1,592 single-family homes sold in Hillsborough County this year, up 4.3% from 1,527 last year.
Condo/townhouse buyers got more of a break than single-family home buyers in Hillsborough County, with a $400,000 median sales price, well below the state median. The county’s 136 condo/townhouse sales in July made up 32.1% of sales in the state in July. The MSP was up from July 2024’s $369,500, when 124 condo/townhouses were sold.
The most expensive county continues to be Rockingham, on the Seacoast, the state’s second most populous at about 323,000. Rockingham’s July median sales price of $669,000 was for 319 properties. As high as the July Rockingham MSP was, it’s a big drop from June’s $710,000 on 287 properties. The year-to-date median in the county is $675,000, with 1,382 properties sold.
Rockingham County’s condo/townhouse MSP in July was $505,000, with 134 properties sold. The year-to-date MSP is $526,000 for 783 properties.
The lowest median sales price for a single-family home in New Hampshire was $240,000 in Coos County, at the state’s northern tip, with a population of 31,000. There were 41 single-family homes sold in Coos County in July.
Overall, eight of the state’s counties had MSPs lower than the state average – Coos, Sullivan {$400,000], Cheshire [$400,500], Belknap [$462,500], Carroll [$465,000], Grafton [$475,000], Strafford [$490,000] and Merrimack [$517,500].
National MSP at all-time high
Nationally, median sales price was a record $435,300 in July, up 2.0% from July 2024, and the 24th consecutive month of annual price increases, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales of existing single-family homes were the same as July 2024, but down 2.7% from June. The slower sales pace contributed to more inventory, now at 4.7, with 1.53 million properties listed for sale heading into July, a 15.9% increase from the same time last year, according to the NAR.
Monthly sales declined in the Northeast in July, as well as the Midwest and South, but increased in the West. Year-over-year, Northeast sales also decreased, as did those in the West, but increased in the South and Midwest.