Meredith, NH Frank Roche, president of Roche Realty Group, Inc with offices in Meredith and Laconia, has reported sales for the 12 months ending December 31, 2019. The firm produced a sales volume of $130,378,512 involving 373 transaction sides. The company averaged $2.5 million in sales volume per week in 2019. The average selling price amounted to $349,540. Roche said, “the sales volume represented a 7.2% increase over the previous year and was the third highest sales achievement in the firm’s 28-year history.” The average sale price of $349,540 increased by 29.6% over the previous year due primarily to high-end waterfront sales.

Roche said, “I attribute the strong sales to our dedicated real estate professionals and our hard-working administrative and marketing staff. As we move forward in 2020, the continued issue for real estate firms statewide will be the limited amount of product selection and inventory. Let’s face it the market has experienced a considerable run-up over the past five years, and our resale inventory levels have decreased.
Nationally, there is a 3-month supply of inventory, the lowest recorded since 1980. In New Hampshire, it might be a fraction lower. It’s a very tight market with statewide vacancy notes for apartments around 1%.. a very low figure. We definitely have an affordable housing shortage, and it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to build very affordable housing at today’s high construction costs and land prices.

On the other side of the spectrum, there is a very strong demand for housing at all price points. The strong demand has been fired by better consumer liquidity, low unemployment, strong consumer sentiment, new millennial buyers entering the market, and of course, interest rates, which are predicted to remain low. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ranges from 3.5% to 3.75%, days on the market have dropped, creating an environment for a continued rise in home sales. The only link to the puzzle will be the early spring market of inventory levels. If they do not increase, we will be in for a tough year. That’s why 2020 is such a pivotal year, and it is undoubtedly one of the best markets to sell your home that I’ve experienced in my 43-year career selling real estate in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region.”

Since 1997 Roche Realty Group has sold more than $2,308,996,318 of New Hampshire’s properties involving 7,783 transaction sides and has ranked in the top 10 real estate firms in New Hampshire out of 2,409 firms statewide reporting sales during this 22-year period.