Market Report: Year-End 2018

2019 housing market report

A new high for NH median price

Despite a relatively cool December and fourth quarter, the New Hampshire residential housing market finished 2019 with the highest median price in the state’s history and was near last year’s record number of home sales.

Among the statewide highlights for single family homes:

• Median price: The year-end statewide median price of $282,500 was ahead of 2017 by more than 6 percent and eclipsed the previous record of $270,000, set in 2005. December’s median price ($267,400) was 1.7 percent behind last year, while the third quarter ($279,000) was 3.7 percent up from 2017.
• Unit sales: There were 17, 525 closed residential sales in New Hampshire in 2018, just 1.4 percent away from 2017, which was the high water mark for closed sales in New Hampshire’s history. December 2018 was behind the 2017 pace by 11 percent, while the third quarter fell 5 percent short of the 2018 pace.
• Days on market: The amount of time it took to sell a single family home in New Hampshire continued to drop, to an average of 61 days in 2018. That’s 10 percent fewer days than the average in 2017. December (66 days) and third quarter (61 days) witnessed a similar trend, both down more than 10 percent from last year.
• Months’ supply (the amount of time it would take to sell off the current inventory at the average pace of sales, if nothing else came on the market) at the end of December was down to just under 3 months, a 12.5 percent drop from last year and continued evidence of the sellers’ market.
• Sales volume (total dollars exchanged in purchase of single family homes) closed the year at nearly $5.7 billion, ahead of 2017 by nearly 4 percent, despite a nearly 14 percent drop in December and a 3 percent decline for the fourth quarter. The year-end dollar amount was the highest ever in the state.

The New Hampshire REALTORS market report includes 10 different categories and historical data going back to 2006, as well as county-level data. Also included below is the long-term statewide data, dating back to 1998.

• For the complete December and year-end 2018 report, click here or view the attached document.  NHAR_MMI_2018-12
• For the newly released statewide and county level data from 1998 to 2018, click here.
• For third quarter 2018 data, click here.

If you have questions, please contact Communications Director Dave Cummings at dave@nhar.com or 603-225-5549.