2012 Winnipesaukee Waterfront Sales Report

During 2012 we experienced a strong year for Lake Winnipesaukee waterfront sales. There were 123 waterfront mainland homes sold (excluding island sales, condos, and land). This resulted in a 30% increase over the preceding year in unit waterfront sales, and our best year since 2007. The year was much more favorable than 2011, which showed only a 9.2% increase. If you count island property sales there were 130 total sales. With island property sales included, the average sales price for all towns amounted to $1,017,367, which increased from the average of $994,688 the previous year. Moultonborough recorded the most waterfront transactions with 42 sales at an average price of $924,131. Wolfeboro had the highest average sales price at $1,630,669 involving 13 transactions. The second highest community was Gilford at $1,486,792 with 12 transactions, followed by Tuftonboro in third place with $1,336,250 with 10 transactions. Alton on the other hand had the second highest volume in unit sales with 27 lakefront sales at an average sales price of $858,778. The unit numbers make sense when you consider that Moultonborough has a total of 66 miles of shoreline and Alton has approximately 33 miles of shorefront. These two towns have a lot of shorefront when you consider the entire coast of New Hampshire has only 12 miles of ocean-front. When you look at the entire “Big Lake” there are approximately 240 miles of shorefront. Wow—that’s a lot of homes when you consider how many homes can be built along just 1 mile of shorefront. It certainly shows that Lake Winnipesaukee is a very desirable location to park your boat and get a good night’s rest. We all know that Lake Winnipesaukee is an absolute gem…that’s probably why Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, was rated the #1 retirement place in the country under the category “Leisure living for recreational and cultural opportunities” (rated by MacMillan Travel-5th edition of Retirement Places Rated).

Roche indicated the market has been improving each year since 2008 and the numbers are showing some nice increases this year. The Lakes Region is within a 7 hour drive in excess of 50+ million people and the Baby Boom generation is 77 million strong. These demographics will propel us well into the future. Roche Realty Group has experienced a substantial increase in unit sales and sales volume in the year-to-date sales figures for 2013.

Roche Realty Group can be reached at (603) 279-7046 or (603) 528-0088, or through their website at www.rocherealty.com.

By Frank Roche, President, Roche Realty Group, Inc.

*The above figures were obtained from the Northern New England Real Estate Network (NNEREN) from 01/01/12 to 12/31/12 for waterfront owned excluding island, condo, and land sales.