During the year 2013 activity around the lakes comprising the Lakes Region was brisk. It appears that gradually people are stepping back into the water in purchasing second homes, semi-retirement homes and permanent residences on NH’s lakes. It has been a gradual recovery since 2010 and there has been a good supply of inventory where buyers have been picking up some pretty good deals. Shown above is the activity on 11 lakes throughout our Lakes Region area.
Obviously Lake Winnipesaukee had the highest number of waterfront sales at 130 however Squam Lake had the highest average selling price at $1,548,789; this number is somewhat skewed because of one high-end sale.
Pulling up year-to-date sales, through August 2014, it’s showing consistent unit sales with an increase in the average selling price on the majority of the lakes. Lake Sunapee holds the highest average selling price at $1,514,374. The activity on Lake Ossipee is disappointment with only one sale at $910,000 compared to 20 sales in 2013 at an average of $357,680. At the present time there are 26 properties available for sale on Lake Ossipee ranging from $229,000 to $985,000.
The largest lakes fall with the parameters below:
Lake Winnipesaukee: 44,568 acres
Big & Little Squam Lake: 7,173 acres
Lake Winnisquam: 4,264 acres
Sunapee: 4,136 acres
Newfound Lake: 4,105 acres
Ossipee Lake: 3,091 acres
Lake Wentworth: 3,018 acres
Merrymeeting Lake: 1,111 acres
Lake Waukewan: 912 acres
Lake Opechee: 426 acres
Lake Kanasatka: 371 acres
You can see from the above there is a lot of water in the Lakes Region, which trickles into a lot of sales for water related properties. It gets even better when you think that the above chart reflects only 11 lakes, there are 273 lakes, ponds, and rivers in NH’s lake country.
Written by Frank Roche, President of Roche Realty Group
