Jennifer Kady
Architect Jennifer Kady joins Weston & Sampson
Jennifer Kady, AIA, has joined Weston & Sampson in their Manchester office. An architect and BIM leader, Jennifer has over 15 years of experience in the design, documentation, and coordination of a variety of commercial and institutional projects.
Her skills include all phases of project design and documentation, including renovation and new construction projects.
A former guest lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former adjunct faculty at Roger Williams University, Jennifer is a Registered Architect in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Existing-home sales ascended 2.2% in December
Existing-home sales climbed in December, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Sales advanced in three major U.S. regions and slipped in the Midwest. Year-over-year, sales accelerated in all four regions.
On an annual basis, existing-home sales (4.06 million) declined to the lowest level since 1995, while the median price reached a record high of $407,500 in 2024.
Total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – elevated 2.2% from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.24 million in December. Year-over-year, sales swelled 9.3% (up from 3.88 million in December 2023).
“Home sales in the final months of the year showed solid recovery despite elevated mortgage rates,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Home sales during the winter are typically softer than the spring and summer, but momentum is rising with sales climbing year-over-year for three straight months. Consumers clearly understand the long-term benefits of homeownership. Job and wage gains, along with increased inventory, are positively impacting the market.”
Total housing inventory registered at the end of December was 1.15 million units, down 13.5% from November but up 16.2% from one year ago (990,000). Unsold inventory sits at a 3.3-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 3.8 months in November but up from 3.1 months in December 2023.
The median existing-home price for all housing types in December was $404,400, up 6.0% from one year ago ($381,400). All four U.S. regions posted price increases.
“The median home price was elevated partly due to the upper-end market’s relative better performance,” Yun added. “Sales rose by 35% from a year ago for homes priced above $1 million, while sales fell for homes priced under $250,000.”
REALTORS® Confidence Index
According to the monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index, properties typically remained on the market for 35 days in December, up from 32 days in November and 29 days in December 2023.
First-time buyers were responsible for 31% of sales in December, up from 30% in November 2024 and 29% in December 2023. NAR’s 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers – released November 2024 – found that the annual share of first-time buyers was 24%, the lowest ever recorded.
Cash sales accounted for 28% of transactions in December, up from 25% in November but down from 29% in December 2023.
Individual investors or second-home buyers, who make up many cash sales, purchased 16% of homes in December, up from 13% in November and identical to December 2023.
Distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – represented 2% of sales in December, unchanged from November and the previous year.
Mortgage Rates
According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.96% as of January 23. That’s down from 7.04% one week ago but up from 6.69% one year ago.
Single-family and Condo/Co-op Sales
Single-family home sales moved higher by 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million in December, up 10.1% from the prior year. The median existing single-family home price was $409,300 in December, up 6.1% from December 2023.
Existing condominium and co-op sales increased 5.1% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 410,000 units, up 2.5% from one year ago (400,000). The median existing condo price was $359,000 in December, up 4.5% from the previous year ($343,500).
Regional Breakdown
In December, existing-home sales in the Northeast grew 3.9% from November to an annual rate of 530,000, up 10.4% from December 2023. The median price in the Northeast was $478,900, up 11.8% from last year.
In the Midwest, existing-home sales slid 1.0% in December to an annual rate of 990,000, up 6.5% from the prior year. The median price in the Midwest was $298,600, up 9.0% from December 2023.
Existing-home sales in the South increased 3.2% from November to an annual rate of 1.93 million in December, up 9.0% from one year before. The median price in the South was $361,800, up 3.4% from one year earlier.
In the West, existing-home sales rose 2.6% in December to an annual rate of 790,000, up 12.9% from a year ago. The median price in the West was $614,500, up 6.0% from December 2023. — National Association of Realtors
Conway planners place STR regs on warrant
Proposed regulations to restrict new non-owner-occupied short-term rentals to commercial zones in town will be placed on the warrant for residents to vote on in April.
The Conway Planning Board is proposing a definition for lodging house, which reads this way: “A building or portion thereof that provides transient occupancy accommodations for a total of 16 or fewer people, with or without meals. This definition includes inns, bed-and-breakfasts, as well as single family homes and duplexes that are used for transient occupancy which accommodates 16 or fewer people. Inns, bed and breakfasts, or other transient lodging which can accommodate greater than 16 persons will be considered a hotel or motel.”
The planning board is also proposing to change the permitted use table to say non-owner-occupied lodging houses are not permitted in the Residential/Agricultural Districts, Center Conway Village Residential District and the North Conway Village Residential District. But they would be permitted in commercial districts.
Meanwhile, owner-occupied STRs would be allowed in those districts as well as in commercial districts.
Another proposed change is a new definition for “transient occupancy.” It reads as follows: “Occupancy of a residential dwelling unit where the length of stay to any individual or group of individuals for 30 days or less within a calendar year. Also called “short-term occupancy” and includes units occupied by non-primary residents.”
The planning board decided to put these regulations on the warrant after holding a public hearing on them on Thursday, Jan. 23.
“Lodging house non-owner-occupied is permitted only in commercial districts,” said Town Planner Ryan O’Connor, adding that terminology about rooming, boarding and tourist houses will be removed from the use table.
The Sun said to the planners, assuming these changes pass, certain properties would be allowed to rent short-term without owner-occupation because of grandfathering, while other properties would not be able to do the same.
The board was asked whether this would cause homes to have differing property values.
Planning board chair Ben Colbath said: “I’m not a real estate speculator, and I think that there’s probably reasons why the value would change both to the positive and the negative in both of those sections,”
Steve Porter, selectmen’s representative to the planning board, said assessed value isn’t based on whether someone rents or not.
Colbath turned to fellow board member Bill Barbin, who works as a real estate agent.
“I’m not here to comment on that,” said Barbin.
The decision to move those definitions and changes to the permitted use table was made in a unanimous vote. — Daymond Steer, Conway Daily Sun
Council delays casino zoning decision to spring
City councilors tabled an agenda item which could have paved the way for the development of casinos during their regular meeting Monday night.
Planning board members at their meeting on Jan. 7 took the first steps toward ultimately revising the city’s zoning ordinance to include provisions for the development of casinos when they sent language for an amendment to the council.
As written, casinos would only be allowed in certain areas of the Weirs.
The zoning ordinance amendment before city councilors on Monday night included definitions, performance standards and the addition of such a use to the table of permitted uses.
Such performance standards include the prevention of casinos being located next to religious facilities, schools, day care facilities and health care facilities and enumerates the ratio of parking to be required by a casino development. It would also have restricted the use to major tourism corridors of the city by requiring them only to be built within the commercial resort zoning district.
Following the unanimous approval by planning board members earlier in January, councilors were set to discuss the potential amendment, but elected to table the matter, potentially until May, as suggested by Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney.
Shawn Flanagan of Allen Avenue told councilors he did not support the amendment being taken up by the council in the winter, when many of the residents of the Weirs are staying elsewhere and therefore could not express their positions in the public forum.
“People that are on Weirs Boulevard, Endicott, Lakeside Ave. — not a lot of people around in the winter time, pros and cons,” Flanagan said. “I don’t know how much input you’re going to get having it in the middle of the winter when there’s not a lot of people around. That’s my biggest concern with the zoning changes that are being made to Lakeside Ave., Weirs Boulevard and Endicott. Particularly Lakeside Ave., because I don’t think it’s the correct spot to have any type of casino in that beautiful tourist area. As I said before, you guys can either make Lakeside Ave. look like Atlantic City or maybe more like Wolfeboro and Meredith, where it’s much more inviting for tourists.”
City Planning Director Robert Mora said when he was first hired by the city he was asked to look into casinos and learned there weren’t provisions for the same within the zoning ordinance.
“We looked at, I think, Hampton and then a few well-known cities out in Nevada about how they were regulating them and why they were doing such things,” he said. “We looked at the state and the lottery commission and what our definitions should be for ‘games of chance’ and then ‘casino’.”
According to the language of the amendment, casinos must ingress and egress from Endicott Street East or North, or Weirs Boulevard.
“We thought that traffic might be a potential issue with casinos so we wanted to limit it to the main arteries within the commercial resort district,” Mora said.
Cheney requested the item be tabled until spring to allow for more time to consider it.
“This council needs to look at a lot more than what we’ve been able to look at at this point, so I move to table this until May,” Cheney said. — Gabriel Perry, Laconia Daily Sun
