Buying a house in New Hampshire just keeps getting more expensive.
The median sales price for a single-family home anywhere in the state, which climbed to $500,000 for the first time in March, rose to $515,000 in April, according to data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.
That’s 13.7 percent higher than a year prior, and the upward trend continues despite a recent uptick in the inventory of homes available for sale, according to the association.
“Warmer temperatures appear to have helped bring some sellers back to the market, providing additional options to home shoppers during the spring buying season. … Nevertheless, demand continues to outpace supply and properties are selling quickly, with the typical home spending 33 days on market nationwide, down from 38 days the month before,” the group said.
Advertisement
The 795 homes across New Hampshire that sold in April were on the market for an average of 30 days, according to the association. That’s not the shortest turnaround time the state has seen in recent years, but it’s significantly quicker than the pre-pandemic norm.
The rising sales prices combined with heightened interest rates are further undermining affordability. For the first four months of this year, the state’s affordability index stood at 60, according to the association. That means the median household income was enough to cover 60 percent of the amount needed to qualify for a mortgage for the median-priced single-family home at prevailing interest rates.
During the same period two years earlier, the affordability index was notably better, at 77. And for all of 2008 through 2020, it had stayed above 100. So although housing affordability is a perennial concern, the pinch has been especially painful lately.
The state needs to produce nearly 90,000 more housing units by 2040, according to estimates from New Hampshire Housing. To that end, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, with support from both the New Hampshire Realtors Association and the New Hampshire Municipal Association, had advocated for a so-called “HOMEnibus” bill to help cities and towns spur development. The Senate passed the bill unanimously, but the House killed it this week.
Advertisement
Other housing bills are still alive. House Bill 1291, for example, would allow accessory dwelling units by right, and House Bill 1399 would allow single-family homes to be converted into duplexes. Both of those bills passed the House by a healthy margin and are pending in the Senate.
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.