I’m happy to share with you the Summary of New London Sales for 2012. I’m particularly happy because, as I look back at my letter of last February, I see that my predictions came true! At last, the cliché of “over the hump” is totally appropriate! After 5+ years, I feel confident in saying that the worst is behind us, and that is very clearly reflected in the performance of the New London real estate market this year. Sales were up in all categories of property in the number of transactions, dollar volume, and average price.

Numbers of residential sales were up about 27%; dollar volume up about 34%; and the average selling price up about 5%+. You can see the significant increase in the number of sales in the $300,000-$399,999 range. This is a good indicator that 2013 will likely see more sales in the $400,000+ range. Even land sales showed decent improvement; this has been a very sluggish part of the market for quite some time. The same has been the case of the commercial market, but a number of sales occurred there as well. With a 36% increase in the number of condominiums sold, what were large inventories in that sector have come down significantly. I expect that we will see continued improvement here as well.

In looking at some of the numbers, you will see that the total dollar volume increased by $20,000,000+. About $11.5M of that total can be accounted for by an increase in lakefront sales (from about $8.1M in 2011, to $19.6M in 2012). In the 2012 total, there was one sale for $4.5M, one for $3.75M, and one for $2M. The average selling price of the 13 transactions (just residential waterfront) was about $1.5M. Condominiums account for another $3.4M; residential sales, about $4.5M. It’s just interesting to see how the increase was spread around.

Our continued hard work and consistency of attentive customer service yielded great successes for our sellers and buyers and an extremely productive year for Coldwell Banker Milestone, considerably out-performing the market overall. I believe that, with an improving and more stable economy, the easing of uncertainty, a stock market showing confidence, and the hint of some upward movement in interest rates, sideline-sitting buyers will be motivated to make a commitment. Advice to sellers will continue to be, “Price it to the market and good things will happen!” While we don’t want this market to take off like a rocket (we all know the results of that), a slow and steady pace of continued improvement will be most welcome. As always, we appreciate your referrals and you can be sure that our Team will deliver extraordinary care, service, and results! Thanks!

Marilyn R. Kidder, Broker/Owner, 603-526-4116

NL 2012 Stats