NHAR is attempting to stress the importance of looking at long-term real estate trends, rather than the media-driven fascination with individual, year-over-year sales and price statistics.  With that in mind, we've compiled first-quarter statewide and county data beginning in 1998, when the statewide median price for a single-family residential home was $125,000.  That first-quarter number rose to its peak of $260,000 in 2006, a remarkable 108 percent increase (a 13.5 percent per year average increase, or 9.6 percent compounded annually), since which time we've seen the median price declines (down 1.9 percent in 2007 and 7.8 percent in 2008) that seem dramatic primarily because of the booming market of the eight years prior.

     Each of the following sheets includes the statewide first-quarter numbers from 1998 to 2008, along with similarly formatted data for individual counties.  We hope this helps to paint a overarching picture of the market that is more encouraging for New Hampshire than what national headlines might lead one to believe, but most importantly it is a picture that is based in actual data rather than speculation.

     For a press release that was sent to statewide media on May 1, click here.  For individual data sheets showing first-quarter market statistics by state and county, see below.