New London, NH Real Estate Market Experiences Steady, Yet Low Volume Of Home Sales In First Quarter Of 2009
April 18th, 2009by Bethany Brenner
While the remainder of NH and Merrimack County saw a decrease in the number of home sales between the first quarter 2008 and 2009, New London, not only stayed steady, but increased as a whole. With three home sales reported in Q1 of 2008 (1, 2 and 0 from January to March respectively), and six in 2009 (two per month for a three month period of time), home sales improved.
In 2009, the average number of days a property remained on the market prior to going under contract was 188. The majority of homes remained on the market above 200 days, however one of the sold properties drastically skewed the data, having only remained on the market for two days.
Properties that are selling in New London are selling for well over $300,000. The lowest sold property is on Edmunds Road and sold for $129,512. The property that sold for the highest amount is located on Wilmot Center Road. It sold for $615,000 or 81% of the listing price ($759,000). Taking into consideration these high and low sales as well as the four other properties, the median sold price for New London in Q1 of 2009 was $365,781.
Of the six properties sold in New London, three of them are located in the village of Elkins, two on Wilmot Center Road and one on Whitney Brook Road. Of these three, one is directly on the shores of Pleasant Lake and the remaining two, not more than a mile from the lake’s town beach.
At the end of the first quarter of 2009, there were fifty-one New London properties for sale with an average number of days on the market of 166. This amount of days is less than the average number of days properties that sold during this same time period remained on the market. While the median selling price for sold properties was $365,781, the median list price for non-sold homes remains 17% higher at $429,000.
It appears that recently the properties most commonly sold in New London are between $350,000 and $400,000. While there are outliers, both higher and lower, they are not the majority at this point in time. With that noted, it is interesting to see that of the “for sale” properties for Q1, there were only 5 properties within $350,000 and $400,000 range.
When evaluating popular price points, it is clear that the majority of homes on the market fall between the $400,000 and $500,000 range. There were fifteen properties in total for this category; four in the $500,000 – $600,000 range and five between $600,000 and $700,000. On the other end, there were eleven homes for sale between $200,000 and $300,000 and only four properties below $200,000. Data suggests that the cause for most homes originally listing in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, and later selling for between $350,000 and $400,000 is a market further pressuring prices downward. Most of the sold homes that resulted in this price range were upwards of very high threes or low to mid fours when they first were put on the market.
It is worth noting that the properties below $300,000 saw an overall increased length of time on the market, as did those above the $450,000 price.
While New London is maintaining a steady, but low quantity of sales, it’s improvement over the first quarter for 2008 and the State and County at large for 2009 is promising and shows a solid consistency in this real estate market. Given the median sold and for sale prices, it is not surprising that sales would be lower than other communities having a larger inventory of less expensive homes. Clearly, the $350,000 to $400,000 price point may preclude the average first time homebuyer or individual hoping to down size from purchasing these homes. Those looking to move into the New London market should be prepared to spend around $250,000 plus for a relatively turn key, smaller home. While there are properties on the market for less, it is likely a good number of those may require some level of TLC.
Sellers looking to sell their homes in a modest amount of time should be realistic of what the market is currently paying for homes. It is the market (a history of supply, demand, sold prices) that truly helps to determine what properties will sell for. A seller’s desire alone for a certain price point, will not necessarily lead a house to be sold. In fact, evidence suggests that homes over priced will and do remain on the market for extended periods of time.
Based on information from the Northern New England Real Estate Network, Inc. for the period January 1, 2009 to March 31, 2009
Contributed by Bethany L. Brenner, REALTOR, GRI, SRES, Bean Group
