Home prices grew by leaps and bigger leaps in 2022 | Homes & Garden

Lebwohl, 46, bought a newly built two-bedroom townhouse with his own office for over $700,000. It is less than 10 minutes’ drive from downtown Portsmouth.

Greenland, which borders Portsmouth and Great Bay, has seen the second-highest increase in median house price of any community south of the White Mountains this year, according to a report by the New Hampshire Sunday News.

When Ingrid Nicholson, who works for the nonprofit volunteer group Safe Families for Children, recently visited Greenland, she called the city’s average price of $890,000 “insane.”

The nationwide median price for a home hit a record milestone this year, but prices have risen by widely varying amounts from city to city, sometimes with large fluctuations in adjacent communities.

Changes ranged from a $592,500 rise in Waterville Valley to a $38,000 drop in Seabrook, according to sales data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.

Out of more than 115 municipalities, only six recorded declines in 2022. One stayed balanced.

Higher prices and double interest rates this year have made home buying less affordable.

A family wanting to buy a home this year at the median price — $442,524 — would need to earn about $126,000 annually to be able to afford the principal and interest on the 30-year mortgage. According to New Hampshire Housing, $150,000 would be required if property taxes and home insurance were factored in.

Both numbers are more than $50,000 higher than if this family bought a home last year at the average price, assuming a 5% down payment, which is typical for a first-time buyer.

“People’s ability to buy new homes has diminished,” said Rob Dapice, executive director and CEO of New Hampshire Housing.

Part of the problem is that developers are not building enough new homes.

Statewide, municipalities issued building permits for 4,446 housing units in 2020 — double the number in 2011 but less than half the number in 2003, according to New Hampshire Housing.

Many families cannot afford to buy a house – or even find an apartment to rent. Others struggle to pay the first month’s rent and security deposit, according to Nicholson.

“Even if they can afford it, they can’t find a place to live,” she said.

Here’s how rates varied by community cluster this year in three New Hampshire areas:

The two places in the southern row where median house prices have risen by the largest dollar amount are on the coast: North Hampton and Greenland.

Greenland’s average price rose by almost a quarter of a million dollars in the first 10 months of 2022 compared to the same period last year – almost five times the price increase nationwide.

Greenland is often not on a homebuyer’s map, said Evan Douglass, an agent at Proulx Real Estate at Keller Williams Coastal Realty.

“Sometimes they start looking in Portsmouth and then they see the prices and they’re like, ‘Oh, what’s around Portsmouth?’ ‘ Douglass said.

Last year Greenland, Portsmouth and North Hampton had average prices within $22,400. This year, that gap is ten times larger, with Greenland in the middle.

“People want to be close to Portsmouth; The nearest town is Greenland,” said John Rice, real estate agent and chief statistician for the Seacoast Board of Realtors.

“Greenland is one of those cities with a rural feel,” Rice said. “It has nice sports facilities, a good small school system” and “You are not far from downtown Portsmouth.”

Greenland generally has a minimum size of 1.5 hectares for house lots.

But Jay Lajeunesse, owner of River Birch Builders in Portsmouth, was able to build nine townhouses – including the one Kendra Lebwohl bought – and one 18th-century farmhouse are allowed. That’s because this borough is connected to Portsmouth’s municipal water system, while most of the city relies on wells and septic tanks.

“The bonus with high-density development is that you can really impact housing supply with a smaller piece of land, and land is hard to come by, especially on the coast,” he said.

Greenland is not the only hotspot.

“The entire market here in the southeastern part of Rockingham County, not just our town but all of our surrounding towns are all experiencing very high selling prices,” said Paul Sanderson, Greenland City Manager.

“Together, we’re much more of a unified market,” Sanderson said.

Douglass said builders and realtors “rely heavily” on comparisons with similar projects in neighboring communities to set their prices. Appraisers do the same thing when determining a home’s market value, which is used to calculate a borrower’s mortgage, Douglass said.

A similar townhouse in Portsmouth sold for $200,000 more than those in the Greenland development called Farmhouses at Founders Square, Douglass said.

“If someone wants to walk to downtown Portsmouth, buy downtown Portsmouth. But someone who just wants to be close to Portsmouth is open to North Hampton and Greenland,” Douglass said.

The median home in North Hampton this year was $975,000, up more than 50% from a year ago.

Unlike Greenland, North Hampton has sea views. This year, 24 homes sold for at least $1 million, compared to 15 last year.

“I think North Hampton buyers are looking for a more rural lifestyle that’s still close to all amenities,” Rice said. “It’s also closer to Massachusetts and the greater Boston area. We see the majority of our buyers from Massachusetts, New York and California.”

Home prices in Candia rose 31% this year to $575,000, double the price increase in neighboring Auburn.

“I think maybe people got kicked out of Auburn and went to the next town,” said realtor Moe Archambault. “You probably got a spike in those cities because people don’t move in and out very often.”

Just south of Manchester, prices rose just $30,000 in Litchfield, which has sold 31 fewer homes this year compared to 2021.

That “probably points to a lack of development,” said Archambault, owner and broker at Moe Marketing Realty Group in Bedford.

Reggie Moreau, owner of RJ Moreau Family Properties in Manchester, plans to build 66 townhouses in Litchfield on 40 acres off Route 3A.

“We’re just waiting for government approvals, and have been for a long time,” Moreau said.

“The rental market is so strong,” Moreau said, that he decided to rent out the units rather than sell them.

The current market rent is $2,500 to $3,000 per month, but he hasn’t decided what to charge yet. He hopes that the first tenants will be able to move in in late spring.

Builders face many challenges including securing local permits.

Chester gave the green light for a 64-house subdivision, but Moreau needs approval from the neighboring city.

“The access to the neighborhood is in Candia, and Candia would prefer not to have that access on a street in Candia,” Moreau said.

Builders cannot build homes fast enough to meet demand.

“We have projects that have sold out in advance and could sell further in advance,” Moreau said. “We limit the number of houses we build based on our ability to complete them.”

According to realtor Rachel Eames, freeway access plays a part in living in Candia.

“It just has a lot to offer in terms of proximity,” Eames said. Exit 3 off Route 101 provides easy access to Manchester and the coast.

“There’s still so much more (home) to buy in Candia than on the coast,” said Eames, owner-broker at RE/MAX Capital Realty in Concord and RE/MAX Coastal Living in Newmarket.

“People like Candia because of the school district” and the ability to send high school students to Pinkerton Academy in Derry, according to Greg Powers, an agent at Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan in Bedford.

Five homes sold in Candia this year for $695,000 or more, including two for more than $1 million.

Candia’s sales have ranged from $329,900 for a 62-year-old Cape to $1.25 million for a home built in 1985 on nearly 10 acres of land.

House prices in the lake region often depend on proximity to the water or spectacular views.

Neighboring Moultonborough, Tuftonboro, and Wolfeboro run north-south along the east shore of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Why has the average price in Moultonborough fallen nearly $15,000 while Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro have each risen more than $120,000?

It’s all about the water.

Moultonborough had 29 waterfront sales this year, compared to 45 in 2021.

A dozen fewer homes were also sold in Moultonborough that year for $1 million or more.

“It shows that the waterfront isn’t selling that much up there,” said real estate agent Adam Dow, CEO of the Dow Realty Group at Keller Williams Realty, which covers the seafront into the North Country.

Waterfront homes generally fetch more money, so fewer sales can drag the median price down.

This year’s sales in Moultonborough ranged from a two-bedroom, five-acre remodel for $215,000 to a seven-bedroom, seven-square-foot mansion for $8.1 million.

Four times as many homes sold for $1 million or more in Wolfeboro than last year. And 17 waterfront homes were sold this year, compared to three last year.

Tuftonboro saw a decline in waterfront homes and homes worth over a million dollars in 2022.

Tuftonboro’s sales that year included a $9.4 million property on Lake Winnipesaukee and a $3.25 million home on Big Lake and a $160,000 home on Aspen Drive. Dollar.

Those who are waiting for real estate prices to fall significantly should not expect any relief in the next six months.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think six months is going to make a difference for people who are currently locked out of the market,” Eames told the realtor. “My best advice is to keep saving and keep working on your credit when you’re in this situation, so hopefully things will change, but I don’t think six months will be enough.”