Concord Ledger

New Hampshire has seen a dramatic increase in real estate prices, resulting from the largest housing shortage ever recorded in the state, according to WMUR9.

“We all know that this (housing crisis) is not something that started in the pandemic," New Hampshire Realtors public policy committee chairman Chris Norwood said in a YouTube video from June 21. "We’ve been on a declining inventory for a number of years now. Rising rental rates for apartments, rising prices for the median price in the state of New Hampshire.” 

The state’s insufficient inventory of available houses for sale, also a product of high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, has driven the average home price to over $400,000 for the first time. The figure represents a 25% increase over last year’s prices.

"We've had buyers this year pay 10 to 20% over the asking price," Jim Lee, president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, told WMUR9.

With the state experiencing housing price increases, as are many other states around the country, it recently passed House Bill 154 to regulate house prices through tax incentives, Sentinel Source reports. 

Last month, a total of 1,331 homes were sold statewide, generating $646 million, 43% higher than the figure from last year, according to WMUR9. The average time a house stays on the market is approximately 25 days, declining from last year’s average of 50 days, partially due to lower interest rates.

"There's a lot of disappointment," resident James Fasano, who has been looking for his first home since February, told NBC Boston.

Real estate agents hope to see more homes on the market as COVID-19 restrictions begin to subside and housing costs begin to drop.

"I think a lot of people that would have normally sold last year and early this year have delayed putting their homes on the market because they didn't want strangers tromping through their house and perhaps bringing COVID in with them," Lee said, according to WMUR9.