Despite economic stumble, luxury real estate market remains solid

By ADAM DRAPCHO
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

A sunset over a beach in Laconia. For people quarantined in Boston or New York, real estate in the Lakes Region is looking more appealing than ever, according to local real estate agents. (Courtesy photo)

For a professional couple at or near retirement age who own an apartment in Manhattan, or a family stuck in a Boston home as they watch through social media as their neighbors ride out a quarantine at their lakehouse, the prospect of owning a weekend or vacation home in the Lakes Region seems at least as good as ever.

Those, combined with low inventory, are some of the reasons why prices in the local real estate market have held steady, even during a time of historic unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And that spike in interest is occurring when real estate professionals now have more tools at their disposal to show homes and meet with clients in a virtual capacity.

Real estate agents said that prices are being buoyed by a lack of inventory, which predated the coronavirus by months and has continued into the spring selling season.

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Home-buying is still going strong in N.H. even though it’s gotten more complicated

By DAVID BROOKS

Concord Monitor staff

Tom and Judy Clark get the sold sign after the closing at BHHS Verani Realty in Concord on April 30. The Clarks are moving up from East Boston to be closer to their children and grandchildren. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

As you would expect, COVID-19 has created a lot of change in New Hampshire’s economy. But you might not have expected what those changes are for the real estate industry.

“We’ve been open for 15 years; March was our single best month for new orders,” Matthew Neuman, owner of Absolute Title, a property title company with offices in Concord, said last week. “And April – we’re not even done with the month and it’s our second biggest month ever.”

Despite economic uncertainty caused by business closings and the complications that social distancing has placed on document signing and house tours, the business of buying, selling and refinancing residences hasn’t slowed at all.

“I’ve had four drive-through (closings) today. … Real estate is booming in New Hampshire,” said Robin Mooney of Broker’s Title of Londonderry, speaking at a closing in Concord’s Fisherville neighborhood on Thursday.

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