Home sales activity and median price in New Hampshire dipped in March, compared to March 2010, leaving first quarter unit sales practically even with the first quarter of last year, while median price for the first quarter dropped nearly 5 percent from the same period 2010.

Realtors in the Granite State sold 1,892 homes in the first quarter of 2011, compared with 1,891 in 2010, according to data released this week by the New Hampshire Association of Realtors (NHAR). Median price, meanwhile, dropped from $207,000 in the first quarter 2010 to $197,000 in the first quarter 2011, NHAR reported.

“We still have yet to find any clear trend line,” said NHAR President Tom Riley, a 35‐year veteran of the real estate industry and president of Riley Enterprises in Bedford. “Overall, it still appears to be a market that is stabilizing, but we’re certainly in no position to make any bold predictions about a timetable for the recovery.”

Riley noted that the March sales decrease followed two consecutive months of increases, and he said the data is still reflective of a particularly difficult winter selling season in New Hampshire.

“Eventually, we expect to find a clear pattern to the market,” Riley said, “but we haven’t found it yet.” In terms of local markets, six of the state’s 10 counties saw unit sales increases in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, including upticks in New Hampshire’s three largest – Hillsborough, Rockingham and Merrimack.

Meanwhile, only Sullivan County and Carroll County showed median price increases.

Click here for March 2011 data residential.

Click here for March 2011 data condo.

Riley continued to assert that the unprecedented buyers’ market – low interest rates, low prices and high inventory – remains ripe for increased activity in the coming months. “The bright spot in this challenging economic picture is the chance for those who in the past have been priced out of the market to now get in,” he said. “I don’t remember a better opportunity for buyers.”

Press Release: NH Association of REALTORS®, Dave Cummings, NHAR Director of Communications