CONCORD, NH – The cost of a single-family home in New Hampshire continues to be at an all-time high and the ability of home-buyers in the state to afford one at an all-time low, according to August’s sales figures.
The median sales price for a New Hampshire single-family home in August was $490,000, according to the monthly market report from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. Median means that half of the homes sold for more, half for less.
The median sales price is an 8.9% increase over August 2022’s $450,000, as well as and increase over July’s $480,000, but still below June’s all-time high of $499,450.
“Higher mortgage rates, along with elevated sales prices and a lack of housing inventory, have continued to impact market activity during the summer homebuying season,” the NHAR said in its monthly report. “The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has remained above 6.5% since May, recently hitting a two-decade high in August, according to Freddie Mac.”
The statistic that is the most telling for New Hampshire homebuyers is the affordability index, which dropped to an all-time low of 59%. That means that the state’s median income is 59% of what is needed to pay the monthly cost of a median-priced home, including mortgage payment and insurance. An ideal affordability index is 100 or higher. Last month it was 62; a year ago it was 74.
Buyers in August paid an average 101.9% of list price, a slight increase from August 2022’s 101.7%, but slightly lower than July’s 102.5%.
Inventory ticked up a fraction, to 1.8, up from 1.7 a year ago and 1.6 in July. That means if all the homes on the market were sold, with no new ones added, it would take 1.8 months to eliminate the inventory. An ideal inventory is 6-8 months.
The dollar volume of closed sales continued to plummet, with $743.7 million recorded in August, compared to $880.7 million recorded in August 2022.
There were 1,283 closed single-family home sales in August, down 23.2% from last year’s 1,671, but up slightly from July’s 1,142.
New listings were down 8.8% from a year ago, with 1,499 compared to 1,643.
In the much smaller condo market, the median sales price was $385,000, up 8.5% from last year’s $355,000, and just slightly up from July’s $384,950. Affordability index is 75, down from last year’s 94 and July’s 78.
There were 471 new listings for condos, up 1.5% from last year.
The same single-family home trends are playing out nationally, where the median sales price is $406,700, a 1.9% increase from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. There were 1.11 million homes for sale heading into August, 14.6% fewer than at the same time last year, and there is a 3.3 months’ supply.