New Hampshire’s home price rise among nation’s fastest

New Hampshire has seen the ninth-largest increase in the price of a single-family home over the last year, according to a study by real estate data analytics firm CoreLogic.

In its most recent U.S. Home Price Insights report, CoreLogic said New Hampshire home prices increased 18.9% between May 2020 and May 2021. But while that increase is big, it’s only the third-highest rate in New England, behind Rhode Island’s 19.3% and Vermont’s 19.2% increases.

The states with the highest increases year-over-year were Idaho (30.3%), Arizona (23.4%), and Utah (20.4%). Nationally, the average home price increase was 15.4%.

Also in its report, CoreLogic issued a warning about what it says are the markets most at risk of home price declines following such sharp increases. It looked at metro areas “where affordability constraints are prevalent and continue to persist as prices rise.” Among the metro areas at risk, according to CoreLogic are Springfield and Worcester in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders reported that new home sales fell to the lowest pace of the year in May while prices jumped 18% year-over-year. The organization said sales of single-family homes fell 5.9% in May to a 769,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate.

“New home prices have increased over the last year due to higher material costs and delays for deliveries,” said Chuck Fowke, chair of the NAHN and a custom home builder in Tampa, Fla. He pointed to supply chain difficulties that continue to persist.

“While lumber costs have come down in recent weeks, they are still more than 210% higher than a year ago. And (oriented strand board) prices are up 380% over the last year.”

In fact, said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz, while higher prices have shifted some buyers to the sidelines, NAHB survey data “indicates that approximately 20% of builders have limited sales activity in recent months in order to manage supply-chains of materials and labor availability.”