New Hampshire real estate market-watchers are expecting a more geographically balanced – and saner – residential market in 2021. 

Few are complaining about how the past year ended up. With sales and prices soaring in the final months of 2020, many real estate brokers across the state report record billings amid a pandemic that many initially thought might cripple the market. 

Still, the first half of 2020, soon after the COVID-19 crisis hit last March, was generally rough for those in the southern portions of the state, as people balked at putting their homes up for sale out of fear of potential virus-carrying buyers trooping through their homes. Sales plummeted in many counties as a result, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of the Registry Review.  

It was an entirely different story in northern parts of the state in the first half of 2020, as mostly out-of-state buyers swooped into the lakes and mountains region to snap up properties in perceived coronavirus-safe environments. 

And they often came with wallets wide open and an almost desperate desire to buy “escape homes.” 

“Last year was one of our biggest ever,” said Randy Park, owner of Maxfield Real Estate in Wolfeboro, tucked next to Lake Winnipesaukee in Carroll County. 

Yet the market eventually turned for the entire state roughly around July last year, after spring lockdown restrictions were finally lifted, and it’s been go-go-go ever since in just about every corner of New Hampshire, real estate officials agree. 

“It’s been insane,” said Missy Adams, realtor at the Adams Home Team at Keller Williams Gateway, which operates out of the Nashua area. “People knew things were finally under control [around the summer] and started coming out again.” 

Cash Buyers Overbid 

That second-half-of-the-year surge has spilled into early 2021, with Adams and others saying January was a seasonally strong month and an indicator of a solid spring market to come.  

“Buyers are overbidding by a considerable amount and a lot of them are cash buyers,” said Adams. 

“I don’t see it slowing down much,” said Dave Smith, owner of Harbor Light Realty in Sunapee. “Agents each have six buyers or more lined up waiting for properties to become available.” 

Like others, Smith said his firm “probably had our best year” in 2020, with billings up by about 30 percent. 

It was a good year, in total, for most real estate firms across the state.  

According to The Warren Group data, the statewide median single-family price surged last year to $320,000, up 12 percent. Coos and Sullivan counties saw the biggest median sale price spikes of 27 percent and 25 percent, respectively. 

Meanwhile, the statewide median condominium sale price soared to $240,000, up 14 percent, with Sullivan County seeing the largest county-wide median sale price spike of 30 percent. 

Two Markets in One State 

But a closer look at the numbers show how New Hampshire came close last year to becoming a “two states within a state” residential market. 

Overall sales of single-family homes were off by 11 percent compared to 2019, down to 14,597 sales, partly reflecting a years-long trend of fewer homes hitting the market and partly reflecting the fears of many sellers to put their homes on the market amid a pandemic and economic downturn.  

Rockingham, Hillsboro and Strafford counties, all generally urban or suburban, saw steep double-digit percentage decreases in sales in 2020, according to Warren Group data. 

But Carroll County, home to the northern side of Lake Winnipesaukee, saw a 2 percent increase in single-family sales, while Sullivan County, home to the western side of Lake Sunapee and nearby Mount Sunapee Resort, saw sales jump by 6 percent. 

Scott Godzyk, owner of Godzyk Real Estate, said the Manchester-area market “slowed to a crawl” after the pandemic first broke in early 2020, then it “just exploded” in early summer, amid pent-up demand and the desire by many buyers to snap up properties across the state. 

Godzyk, whose firm also sells properties in northern areas of the state, agrees that there were almost two different markets last spring in New Hampshire – the booming north and the struggling south. 

But the market geographically evened out toward the end of last year, Godzyk said, and demand for properties remains strong heading into the spring 2021 market.  

Inventory Concerns 

The big question moving forward is whether there will be enough inventory to meet the demand, Godzyk and others say. He also noted that banks seem to be tightening up credit a bit, as prices surge to record highs.  

Godzyk said a sign of how out of whack supply and demand has gotten could be seen during the recent sale of a Manchester condo – in which the seller got 15 offers and sold the property for $30,000 above asking price.  

“There’s just huge demand out there and not enough supply,” he said. 

“Listings are very tight and demand is very, very high,” said Adams, based in the Nashua area.  

Despite widespread concerns over lack of inventory, there’s one big plus for the coming spring market: The development of new coronavirus vaccines.  

In general, vaccination programs have been slow to get going across the country, amid ongoing nationwide shortages of vaccine dosages. Nonetheless, the vaccines are a sign of hope that the end of the pandemic may be near – and it may encourage more sellers to put properties on the market. 

“Demand is ridiculous up here,” said Matt Martel, co-owner of RE/MAX Northern Edge Realty in Berlin. “January has already started off with a bang.” 

He said demand is so strong that many people and investors are now just buying vacant land in expectation of building one day.  

“People are looking for a place to construct a small home,” he said. “People are just flocking to up here.”