New Hampshire’s residential real estate market saw an impressive gain in the number of homes for sale this spring, providing some would-be buyers with more housing options and a softening in prices.

The big question moving forward: Can the trend last?

Data and anecdotal evidence show that major challenges still confront the overall market, such as sluggish closed sales, stubbornly high interest rates, rising housing costs despite easing price pressures, and an historically severe supply-and-demand housing imbalance.

But there’s indeed been some positive news of late.

In particular, new listings of single-family houses for sale in New Hampshire jumped year-over-year by about 21 percent in April and by 7 percent in May, according to data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.

Year to date, new listings were up by 9.9 percent through May, compared to year-to-data numbers during the same period in 2024, according to the most recent data.

Meanwhile, total inventory of houses for sale was up a whopping 31.5 percent year-over-year in April and up by 21 percent in May.

There are signs that the extra inventory is impacting prices.

Data Shows Cooler Signs

The median sale price for a single-family house rose to $505,000 in May, or by 3.08 percent year-over-year, as prices continued their relentless push upward according to The Warren Group, publisher of The Registry Review.

But that May increase is nonetheless dramatically down from the nearly 8 percent year-over-year spike in single-family prices in May 2024, data shows.

Meanwhile, the percentage of list prices received by New Hampshire sellers was actually down by 1.89 percent in May, according to NHAR data.

That’s not a huge decline, but it’s a decline.

Another sign of the state market cooling off a bit: The average days of homes on the market year-to-date increased to 35 days, or up 20.7 percent, through May, compared to the same time period last year.

Real estate markets elsewhere across the region and nation are seeing similar trends: rising inventory and a slowly improving pricing environment for buyers in general.

The Boston area has recently seen inventory growth of 16.3 percent year-over-year, while 20.7 percent of homes have had a price cut, reports  Banker & Tradesman, owned by the Warren Group and a sister publication of the Registry Review.

Across the country, Realtor.com is also reporting cooling prices and a growing number of homes for sale in major metro markets.

‘Coming Back to Normality’

In New Hampshire, agents anecdotally confirm what the data shows: There are more homes for sale and price pressures are easing a bit.

“We’re making some inroads in inventory and

, but they’re just not huge inroads,” said Laura Hallahan, a broker-owner of Hallahan Realtor in Bradford. “There are more choices out there for buyers. There’s a more positive feeling among buyers.”

Adam Dow, owner the Dow Group-Keller Williams Coastal, Lakes & Mountains, agreed that increased inventory seems to be helping the state real estate market cool off a bit.

“We’re now coming back to normality,” he said, noting buyers seem to be in less of a rush now to make offers if homes aren’t the right fit for them.

But Dow warned that the state’s real estate market, when it comes to inventory, is still far off from its historic norms.

He noted that the 12-month rolling average of inventory of homes for sale may have stood at 1,767 in May, but that’s compared to 4,765 homes in May 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dow said he wants to see more data for June and July before he’s convinced the inventory picture is truly changing.

Steve Morrissey, an associate broker at East Key Realty in Francestown, agreed that there seems to be more homes for sale of late.

“But I’m not attributing much to it,” he said. “I’m not overly impressed with what I’m seeing today. There’s still a lot of flux.”

Distress Forcing Some Sellers’ Hands

In recent years, real estate-watchers have found that many would-be home sellers have been reluctant to put their houses on the market due their holding mortgages with super-low interest rates obtained before the Federal Reserve began raising its benchmark interest rate in 2023.

So they’ve been staying put in their current homes and avoiding the hassle of trying to purchase a new abode amid fierce competition among would-be buyers.

But Morrissey and others say the recent increase in inventory may be tied to some would-be sellers concluding they can’t hold off any longer on selling their homes.

“I’d say distress on households is forcing some sales,” said Morrissey.

And Granite State agents stress there’s still an unpredictability to the market.

Hallahan noted that about a half dozen homes, each priced over $1 million, recently came on the market in the New London area.

Normally, one would think such homes might sell a bit slowly because of the mini-rush of similar products hitting the market at the same time in one sales area.

But all the homes were quickly snapped up within three to five days of landing on the market, said Hallahan.

One the other hand, homes selling for about $540,000 to $800,000 aren’t selling as well as one might think, she said.

“It’s all very random,” she said of market behavior. “There’s no rhyme or reason 100 percent of the time to this market.”

An ‘Unhealthy’ Fall?

What’s in store for the rest of the year?

Morrissey said he and others he’s talked to are worried about the economy amid world tensions and trade disputes.

“Everybody seems to be holding their breath,” he said. “People are nervous about their well-being in terms of the economy and their real estate needs.”

He added: “My feeling is that things could get unhealthy this fall.”

Dow said he’s “anxiously awaiting” to see how the summer market plays out.

But he said he remains generally bullish on New Hampshire due to the state’s strong economy, low taxes and its general aesthetic appeal to so many people.

“I’m optimistic about the state compared to other states,” he said. “I’m pro-New Hampshire real estate.”