New Hampshire Home Sales Show Q3 Decline

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New Hampshire Home Sales Show Third Quarter Decline

Positive streak compared to 2009 totals is halted

October 30, 2010 2:00 AM

Seacoast Online

After four consecutive quarters of substantial residential home sales increases, New Hampshire saw a decrease in the third quarter of 2010 compared to the same period 2009.

Data released recently by the New Hampshire Association of Realtors showed the number of residential units sold in the third quarter (July to September) 2010 was 17 percent behind sales in 2009's third quarter — from 3,273 in 2009 to 2,714 in 2010.

Home sales in New Hampshire, like many other markets throughout the country, had been slowing for nearly four years before being spurred in part by the homebuyer tax credit in 2009.

Beginning with the third quarter 2009, the state experienced increases of 3 percent (third quarter 2009), 29 percent (fourth quarter 2009), 13 percent (first quarter 2010), and then 21 percent in the second quarter 2010, compared in each case to the same period of the previous year.

Expiration of the tax credit this spring seems to have been the catalyst for the recent decline, and leadership at NHAR believes it will be toward the end of this year and early 2011 that the true course of the market becomes apparent.

"As we've said before, this is a market that is continuing to figure itself out," said NHAR President Monika McGillicuddy, a 25-year veteran of the real estate industry and an agent with Prudential Verani in Londonderry. "It will only be once we're clear of the impact of the tax credit and its expiration that we'll have a sense of where the housing market is trending."

McGillicuddy said cumulative home sales in 2010 remain 3 percent ahead of the same point in 2009, and after a 32 percent drop in July, the decline in August was not as severe, at 12 percent, and September's 6 percent drop is even less dramatic.

"Again, it's very difficult to establish a trend line in this environment, but at least we can say the large single-month drops we saw in the summer do not seem to be holding up," McGillicuddy said.

The September median residential sales price of $217,750 was 1.3 percent ahead of September 2009, and 2010 year to date median price, at $217,000, is 1.4 percent ahead of the same period last year. The third quarter 2010 median price was 1 percent behind that of the third quarter 2009.

The third quarter declines were evident in most local markets as well. With the exception of Belknap County, which showed a 7 percent increase in sales and a 6 percent increase in median price in 2010 compared to 2009, New Hampshire's nine other counties showed third quarter unit sales decreases, and five of the 10 showed median price decreases as well.

McGillicuddy said the relatively low median price is a positive thing as affordability, along with low interest rates and plenty of inventory, increase the opportunity for families to own a home.