The total number of residential sales in our Lakes Region of New Hampshire list of towns came in at 69 homes exchanging hands in May. That is up slightly from the 65 homes sold last May. The average price of the homes that sold dropped from $361,085 last May to $258,828 and the median price also dropped from $240,000 last May to $187,000 this May. Again, this is primarily due to what is selling with 57% of the homes selling under $200,000 this May compared to 37% under $200,000 last May.

One thing different was that of the 39 homes sold below $200,000 there were only 9 bank owned properties, so for once the majority of the homes sold in this price range were privately owned. It is nice to see the owner occupied homes selling in more numbers. It is also nice to see some Winnipesaukee waterfront sales. There were actually six waterfront transactions, starting at a low of $325,000 for a 2 bedroom mobile home with 155 feet of frontage in Alton up to just over $2 million for a 4,000 square foot contemporary with 230 feet of shorefront right in the bay in Center Harbor. The other four waterfronts were in the mid $600,000 to $800,000 range and seemed to offer some good values for the buyers.

There could be some additional great news this fall for home buyers if one real estate agent turned US Senator has his way. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who was a real estate broker in Georgia for over 30 years,  has introduced a new bill in the US Senate that would almost double the current $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers to $15,000 and expand the program to all home buyers. The bill also eliminates the income cap of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples, would apply to multi-family homes if the property is to be used as the borrower’s primary residence, and would extend the tax credit for 1 year from the date of signing the bill. The current $8,000 tax credit, which was for first time buyers only (or someone who has not owned a home in the past 3 years) is set to expire at the end of this year and has been very effective in increasing sales of starter homes. This bill is intended to help people looking to buy or trade up to larger homes as that is a segment of the market that has been hit very hard. This bill has bipartisan support and is also backed by the National Association of REALTORS® and the Washington based Business Roundtable, an organization made up of 100 chief executive officers from around the country.

There is also a bill in the House HR 2801, Home Ownership Moved the Economy Act 2009 that proposes to extend the existing $8,000 tax credit to anyone that purchases a new principle residence through Jan. 1, 2011. Time will tell if either of these bills pass but they would definitely create a much needed boost for the troubled housing market.

Residential Homes Sold May 2009

Report covers the towns of Alton, Barnstead, Belmont, Center Harbor, Gilford, Gilmanton, Laconia, Meredith, Moultonborough, New Hampton, Sanbornton, and Tilton. Compiled from the NNEREN MLS System.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under Lakes Region Home, Market Report Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.