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New Hampshire
An over supply of homes for sale and the end of the real estate boom is sending New Hampshire housing prices lower, which is good news for buyers in one of New England’s most durable real estate market places.
New Hampshire experienced rising appreciation since 2000, but prices are dropping and are forecast to keep up that trend through 2008, according to the Housing Predictor forecast. The backlog of unsold properties is increasing.
Foreclosures are also increasing in New Hampshire mainly because of abundant subprime and alternative lending practices, which have damaged the state’s economy. However, for nearly twenty years New Hampshire mortgage lenders have originated loans and been only the conduit for mortgage funds, which should act to protect local lenders from the mortgage melt down to some degree.
The influx of mortgage money from Wall Street investors will still have a major impact on local economies in New Hampshire as consumer confidence weakens. The downturn in New Hampshire real estate will last a long while.
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| City |
Forecast |
| Manchester |
− 9.2% |
| Nashua |
− 9.6% |
| Concord |
− 7.8% |
| Dover |
− 6.9% |
| Portsmouth |
− 10.2% |
In the state’s largest city of Manchester on the Banks of the Merrimack River sales are down and home prices are declining. Manchester saw housing prices go up by as much as 75% since 2000 only to see the housing market weaken when things changed. Housing Predictor forecasts 2008 will be a tough year for homes in Manchester deflating an average of 9.2%.
Just over the state border from Boston, Nashua serves as a bedroom community for the Boston metropolis and has been growing for years. But as the Boston real estate market suffers from severe deflation in housing values, Nashua is due to under go a similar fate forecast to drop 9.6% in average values this year.
Sales volume has also softened in Portsmouth, where prices continue to weaken and are forecast to depreciate another 10.2% on average in 2008. Foreclosed properties are becoming a popular commodity in Portsmouth.
In the state capitol there hasn’t been much change yet in real selling prices for most homes, but the bargains are selling at an increasing velocity as would-be home buyers concerned about the economy get the best deal they can. Concord will see prices trend downward through the rest of the year on way to a decline forecast of 7.8%.
In the small community of Dover, which has some of the nicest old New England style homes in the state foreclosures are propping up an otherwise slow real estate market. A shift towards a more rapidly deflating market is forecast for 2008 with a loss in average housing values of 6.9%.
In the Lakes Region of Belknap County, where vacationers head to cool off during the heat of the summer the second home market has boosted housing prices. But a growing lack of demand is beginning to take a toll, which is typical of the way New Hampshire is dealing with the housing crisis, one community at a time.
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