By Elyse Kelly | The Center Square

Though New Hampshire’s residential real estate market has seen an impact from the COVID-19 crisis, it hasn’t been a negative one.

A broker for Ruedig Realty in Concord, Barbara Ruedig, said they’ve seen an influx of people.

“Because New Hampshire is a rural state, and we have some tax advantages here in that there is no state income tax, and there is no state sales tax, it is quite an attractive place and we have seen people coming from the bigger urban areas,” she told The Center Square.

Ruedig offered an example of the extreme change urban dwellers are looking for.

“I would say the most graphic example of that is I had a property listed in the town of Henniker,” Ruedig said. “It was 300 acres of land that was professionally managed by foresters, and it had a very nice Cape-style house on it, and it was purchased by a family that lived in the upper Eastside of New York City.”

In the capital city of Concord, they’re seeing a consistent trend of multiple offers on properties, Ruedig said. She points out there are several reasons for this uptick in competition on estates.

“I think a lot of people don’t want to live in apartments anymore, they don’t want to be touching the same door handle and sharing space with other people, and a lot of properties that are priced, say, around $300,000 will get multiple offers,” Ruedig said.

Ruedig told of a recent listing by one of her colleagues where the property received 50 showings and 12 written offers over one weekend.

“It’s just overwhelming, the desire for people to get into single-family homes,” Ruedig said.

Another reason is the states rock-bottom interest rates, according to Ruedig.

“The interest rates are so low that in some cases if you have a good down payment, you can get into a house and be paying less than apartments,” Ruedig said.

The New Hampshire Business Review reports the New Hampshire Association of Realtors recently released statistics for 2020, showing that the average time a house spent on the market last year was 47 days. Homes on average sold for slightly more, 100.3% of the asking price, with a median price

For 2021, Ruedig said they are expecting the same thing in the real estate markets in New Hampshire.