The Dow Group In The News - Condos set record median price

Comparable sales in the greater Manchester market are showing similar units going for $420,000 to $450,000 or renting for $2,700 to $3,000 a month, according to Moreau, owner of RJ Moreau Family Properties in Manchester.

But on the other side of the financial ledger, his costs to build “are a little bit challenging,” he said Monday, noting the cost to construct a road has nearly doubled in three years.

Decisions on price and rent-versus-sell are still to come for Moreau.

“Interest rates will be a big part of whether we decide to sell or keep them as rentals,” Moreau said.

Condo prices around New Hampshire hit an all-time high in September, according to fresh data from the New Hampshire Realtors. The statewide median price stood at $404,415, nearly $60,000 more than a year earlier. Litchfield had one condo sale for $475,000 in September.

In a study out Monday, Massachusetts and New Hampshire tied for selling homes at the fastest clip in the country, at an average 32 days, according to real estate experts at Agent Advice.

Realtor Adam Dow, CEO of the Dow Realty Group at Keller Williams Realty, which covers the Seacoast to the North Country, said the 12-month rolling inventory of homes for sale in New Hampshire hit an all-time low in September.

“It means that prices are not dropping and homes are still selling,” Dow said in an email.

Demand still outstrips supply, he said.

The 12-month rolling average of homes for sale measured 1,627 in September compared with 12,433 in September 2009.

Dow thinks there has been a shift in what drives buyers compared to a year ago.

“I think the biggest difference of buyers right now is they are more proactive versus reactive,” he said.

People were reacting to the pandemic, leaving densely populated areas, reacting to what they thought the new norm would be for themselves or for society in general, he said.

“They had to work from home, so they needed a bigger house,” he said. “They had more time at home, so they wanted a better house, etc.”

But record interest rates changed the pool of buyers.

“With the interest rates rising, it has erased the buyer who was being reactive or doing it out of a loosely held want versus need or desire,” Dow said. “We now have serious buyers who are experiencing life events, work from home is a reality, they need to downsize or upsize, death /divorce, retirement and the traditional second-home buyers.”

The newer buyers are more price sensitive, but bidding wars still happen sometimes, he said.

For single-family homes, Nashua set a new all-time high in September with a median price of $505,000. Coos County also set a record at $272,500. Hillsborough County tied August’s record of $510,000.

But Hillsborough County in September saw 277 finalized home sales, 108 fewer than in September 2022.

Meanwhile, the Seacoast region saw single-family home sales hit a new September low with 58 sales at a median price of $757,500, which was up 14.7% from last year,

Condo sales fell 20.1% from a year ago with 53 units. The month set a September record with 11 sales of $1 million or more, led by 300 Court Street in Portsmouth at $2.9 million.