Hampton cashes in on spring real estate

Hampton was the big sweepstakes winner for real estate sales during the spring.

It recorded sales of houses and condominiums totaling $24.3 million for the spring period of March, April and May, according to real estate deeds filed with the Rockingham County Register of Deeds. That's a 67.9 percent increase over the $14.4 million worth of residential property recorded during the winter months of December 2011, January 2012 and February 2012.

Hampton led other Seacoast communities in terms of percentage gain of house and condo sales. Average prices in town recorded a decline, however, both for houses and condos.

There were 54 recorded transactions involving houses totaling $15.8 million, according to the data for Hampton. There were 39 recorded transactions involving condos for a total of $8.5 million.

Spring is considered a budding period for real estate sales and it showed in Hampton. Spring 2012, in fact, exceeded spring 2011, which saw $19.5 million worth of sales of houses and condos.

But the average price of a house that sold in Hampton during the spring period declined — from $314,158 in the winter period to $297,817 in the spring, a 5.2 percent drop. The average price of a condo went from $226,086 in the winter to $218,864, a 3.2 percent drop.

In Hampton Falls, eight house sales during the spring period accounted for $3 million worth of sales, a 106.3 percent bump. There were no condo sales recorded. The average price of a house that sold was $371,138.

North Hampton saw a 25.7 percent decline in the total value of house and condo sales in the spring from the winter. House transactions totaled $3.4 million versus $4.5 million in the winter. A house on Squire Drive sold for $1 million in May. A single transaction involving a condo accounted for $393,000.

The Seacoast as a whole, including Portsmouth, Hampton, Hampton Falls, North Hampton, Exeter and Stratham, perked up a bit during the spring over the winter in terms of total sales value. The region recorded residential transactions totaling $80.6 million, a 26.3 percent hike. And the region as a whole saw an increase in the average price of both a house ($389,011, a 21.3 percent increase) and a condo ($273,406, a 24.5 percent increase).

Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120610-BIZ-206100318