New Hampshire closes 2021 with big jump in median single-family home price

2021 in New Hampshire ended with a bang when it came to the price homes were selling for and with a whimper when it came to the number of homes sold.

The median price of a single-family home in the Granite State was $400,000 in December which, although down slightly from November, was a full 14.3 percent over the median price in December 2020. Indeed, in every month of 2021, except for October, there was a double-digit increase over 2020, and the average monthly increase was almost 18 percent

But only 1,417 homes actually were sold in December, and that was 18.6 percent fewer than the same time in 2020. Usually, December isn’t a big house-hunting month, but this was the biggest year-over-year drop of 2021.

The culprit was not weather or Covid, but the lack of inventory that has been plaguing the market all year. There were just over 1,000 homes for sale (1,083 to be exact) in December 2021, a 34.4 percent drop from December 2020.  New listing were down 15.1 percent.

So when homes did come on the market, they sold fast – in an average of 30 days and at a price that was 1.5 percent over the asking price.

Condo sales also fell in December, by 18.5 percent, and the median price, $290,000, was a 5.8 percent increase over 2020.  Again, there were a lot fewer condos for sale (41 percent), and condos sold 2.1 percent over asking price.

The $505,000 median home price in Rockingham County was the highest in the state, 12.2 percent higher than a year before.   The biggest jump in prices was found in Coos County, where the median home sold for $231,250, a 55 percent increase from 2020, though the county has the lowest-priced median home on the market.