This PDF of Eastman Sale Stats 08′-11′ really gives you an accurate snap shot of what has happened over the four years.
Weather your thinking of buying or selling this information can help you make an educated assessment of property values here in the community.
Well, for 2011 Eastman NH home sales totals were not good! Only 28 homes sold in the entire year. Homes sold as low as $155,000 to as much as $635,000 for the Yankee Barn Model Home.
Not a lot of sales but there is some great news!
The median price was $299,999. Thats good news as Eastman is well above the national median housing numbers of approximately $155,000. Using an average sales price, the news is even better, $305,305 was the average. Hows that for a number!
The bottom line that I see is that there were not a lot of buyers but the ones that were out there paid a fair price for Eastman homes!
I was just looking at the most recent sales stats for Eastman NH, Sullivan County and across the state of New Hampshire. I will get specific to Eastman in another post. To get the PDF click on NNEREN Stats 2011.
The biggest thing that I see for Sullivan County is the fact that the median residential home sale price is down 10.29% for the year compared to 2010. That is a healthy number, way to big than we want to see!!! The number of houses sold in 2011 v. 2010 are about the same (355 v.352) so prices have dropped!! Home prices across the state are down 6.19%
The median price of condos dropped 20.78% but when there is only 12 condos sold in Sullivan County for the entire year of 2010 then we sell 22 in 2011 I could see that number being swayed easily. Twelve condo sales for an entire year is just to small a number to be statistically accurate. If we look at the entire state the median sale price of a condo is only down 6.06%
It’s been a few months since I posted some of the state sales figures but here they are. Some of them are rather scary if your a seller. Click on August Sales Stats if you want to go straight to the 3 page PDF file.
Some of the highlights are: The median sale price for all improved properties is $175,000 averaged out year to date. That’s down 6.42% from last year. Sullivan County is down 4.69% but Merrimack County is down 9.51%. I think locally, particularly in Eastman we are somewhat shielded from a 9% drop in a year. We just don’t have that many foreclosures driving prices down like they have in Concord area.
Another number going the wrong way is average selling price per square foot. At $120.00 that is not the lowest I’ve seen but these are August numbers. August sales are typically stronger than November and December. This year we peaked in June. July and August are trending down. It will be very interesting to see where Septembers numbers are.
Eastman specific: We have sold 19 homes so far this year vs. 39 for the same time period in 2010. Slightly less than half of last years numbers. Yet condo sales are up. Year to date there have been 8 units sold vs. 5 last year. By the end of the month the 9th condo sale will take place so that is a good sign.
Another extremely good sign is the fact that the average sales price for homes in Eastman has remained stable from last year. This years average sale price is $284,240. Last year there were three home sales over $600,000 and one sale at $530,000 which raised the average to $304,342. So even though the average is off this year by $20,000 realistically by taking out the highs and lows the average should be right around $280,ooo so this year we have a solid number!!
If you are a buyer, Interest rates are astoundingly low. 30 Year fixed rates with no points at 3.75% Who would have thought that??? The combination of interest rates and home prices are extremely attractive. Don’t be the one to say I should have bought then….It’s a great time to buy….and now is the time!
I’ve been trying to find some positive news in the real estate market and it is hard to do. But this trend seems to be several months in the making. These are not the greatest numbers but a trend is a trend.
The median selling price for all properties in good old New Hampshire is $175,000. There have been increases for the past three months since hitting a low of $169,000 in February. Another positive stat is the average selling price per square foot. At the end of May buyers were paying on average $115.02 per square foot. This is up from a low set four months ago of $109.00
Another stat that I don’t like to use because there are just to many ways for it to be measured and altered is days on market. Although the number dropped in a rather big way it is not in a trend. Over the last seven months the number has been up 4 times and down three. If you have any questions as to why I don’t like the days on market number I will gladly explain it to you.
It is just so hard to believe that 2010 is just about over. It seems like yesterday, I was watching fireworks from around the world welcoming in Y2K. As we get down to the last few days of December, the November sales stats are finally here. The trend lines are all heading in the wrong directions still but it looks like the median sale price line might show some signs of flattening. In Sullivan County the median sales price has actually risen 1.67% year to date. That’s good news. Merrimack County is is down 2.23% YTD.
So if you want all the NH Sales Statistics Year To Date click on bold letters and get the latest for New Hampshire, Merrimack and Sullivan Counties.
A few questions were put in front of me this am and I will try to answer them as best I can.
First I would like to say that home and condo prices are dropping everywhere. Prices in Eastman may have declined seemingly more than some other local areas and that may be true. I believe that there is more direct competition in the smaller radius of Eastman compared to other towns. Look at the size of Enfield, it’s about 52 square miles, New London is 25.6 square miles. Even though New London has the same amount of homes for sale the distance between them is far greater than homes in Eastman. This is one of the reasons New London’s home sales are down so much over the last few years. Prices have not declined as much and until they do New London will see a slow housing market.
The Buy In Fee: I do not believe the buy in fee has much affect on buyers. As stated before, buyers know that fee exists well before they drive into Eastman. If buyers are afraid of the buy in fee, they usually don’t show up.
The Annual Assessment: This cost does equate to about $40,000 in mortgage money. Using today’s interest rates and financing a home, an Eastman buyer paying $250,000 for a home in the community can for the same monthly outlay pay $290,000. So, yes I do believe the annual assessment does influence prices of homes.
Something else to consider is the cost of land. I believe that the cost of land in Eastman is so low that it dramatically reduces the over all cost of a home. Keeping the cost per square foot lower than if you built in New London or other surrounding towns. Considering a lower initial cost leads to a lower re-sale value. I think this idea gets left out at lot during many “value” discussions.
Home sales in the Eastman Community seem to be a big topic these days. I get asked several time a week, “how are things going”, “is anything selling”, or “are there any buyers looking”. The answer to these questions are: Good, Yes and Yes.
Before I get into some statistics on sales, I want to talk about the Eastman New Member Fee and ECA Annual Fee. The New Member Fee is a one time fee that is paid at time of closing. Almost all buyers of Eastman property are well aware of this fee before they arrive at the community to look at housing. The internet has helped buyers do plenty of research so they are educated before they get to the main entrance. The annual Eastman Community Association fee is a bit harder to explain. Most buyers that don’t have young kids understand it just fine. It’s when you get a younger family that wants to buy a vacation home, they don’t understand that some of the Eastman amenities are not included. As of this writing Eastman is considering bumping up the ECA annual fee about $220.00 so that owners can gain access to everything but golf at no extra cost. We will see what happens in a few short weeks if this change will take place.
Now for some sales stats:
Currently in Eastman there are 87 homes actively for sale, 39 homes sold, 25 closed between $200-400,000 and 4 sold between $400-600,00.
New London has 90 homes active for sale, 24 have sold, 14 between $200-400,000 and 5 between $400-600,00
Enfield has 93 homes active for sale, 29 have sold, 11 between $200-400,00 and 4 between $400-600,00
Lebanon has 138 homes active for sale, 66 have sold, 31 between $200-400,00 and 5 between $400-600,000
What I see is New London has the slowest selling market out of the four areas. Enfield is the second slowest market. Eastman would come in third just behind Lebanon. Why are more houses selling in Lebanon? There is a disproportionate amount of homes selling under $200,000.
If you ask me, Eastman home sales are as good if not better than other local markets. Eastman is a community that that appeals to many, not everybody, but no community appeals to everyone. Eastman does offer a lot and people that live here really do enjoy the life style.
Now offering a free service about home values.
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