Record $500,000 home price tags drive people from NH housing market

Apr. 12—The median home sales price in New Hampshire hit a record half-million dollars in March — pushing monthly mortgage payments to more than double what someone would have paid for a similar house just three years ago.

"I just think there are a lot of people who have a lot of money and a lot of people who don't," said Greg Powers, a Realtor at Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan in Bedford.

The $500,000 median price in March was $135,000 more than in March 2021. Interest rates also have more than doubled, boosting monthly principal and interest payments beyond $3,100 a month, compared with around $1,500 three years ago for those putting down 5%.

Someone putting down 20% still would have seen their monthly payment double last month, to more than $2,600. Neither calculation includes property taxes or home insurance.

The New Hampshire Association of Realtors said the state had a 16% drop in affordability from a year ago.

"The problem remains the shortage of available housing that is continuing to make homeownership more difficult than ever for those workers needed to help an economy thrive," said the group's president, Joanie McIntire.

The group's affordability index dropped to 59 in March, meaning the state's median household income is just 59% of what is necessary to qualify for the median-priced home under prevailing interest rates.

That's the lowest March number since the group began measuring affordability in 2005. The affordability index was above 150 as recently as March 2017 and has been as high as 200, in 2013.

March's median sales prices surged by double-digit percentages in eight of the state's 10 counties over the past 12 months.

Four counties set record highs for prices — including Hillsborough County, home to Manchester and Nashua.

The median price rose 17.1% in March to $531,000 or $77,500 higher than a year ago.

"Some of that may be because, I think, there's more building going on," with newly built homes frequently costing more, Powers said.

Manchester's $400,000 median price last month was up only $1,500 from a year earlier. Nashua's price, however, jumped to a near-record $509,000, nearly $70,000 more than 12 months earlier.

Along the Seacoast, March's 37 sales of single-family homes hit an all-time low for the month, as did pending sales, according to the Seacoast Board of Realtors.

"Our market continues to be constrained by lack of single-family inventory and stubbornly high mortgage interest rates," said board president Lynn Lagasse.

"Interest in Seacoast real estate remains as strong as ever and multiple-offer scenarios are abundant," she said.

McIntire said the lack of housing inventory remains the primary driver for the increased pricing. She said relief needs to come from policymakers, at both the local and state level.

"The best way to climb out of our current housing shortage is to embrace less restrictive zoning, and to empower private property owners by removing unnecessary red tape," she said.