New Hampshire commercial real estate brokers expect modest improvements in the office, industrial, retail and multifamily subsectors in 2025 – but not much more.
The somewhat positive outlook for the coming year is tied to anticipated additional interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and a state economy that’s already produced a super-low jobless rate of only 2.8 percent remaining strong throughout 2025.
But it seems each CRE subsector has hit its own internal roadblocks that likely will prevent truly exceptional performances in the coming year, industry officials agree.
“I do see isolated [areas] of improvement, but otherwise generally see more of the same,” said Thomas Farrelly, executive managing director of commercial brokerage Cushman & Wakefield’s New Hampshire office.
Farrelly was referring to the state’s office market, but his observation generally reflects the views of other brokers towards the entire CRE market in New Hampshire: improvements here and there, status-quo elsewhere.
Following is a look at the major CRE submarkets in the Granite State and how they might fare in the coming year.
Offices Still a Weak Spot
Of the four CRE subsectors, office buildings are in the roughest shape, both locally and across the U.S.
The remote-work trend that started during the pandemic has eaten deeply into demand for office space – and few think the trend will radically change in coming months and years.
Sure, some companies have recently issued back-to-office orders. But many of them have implemented “hybrid” work schedules that call for employees to be in offices only two or three days per week – and letting employees work remotely other days of the week.
“You’re going to see more people back to work,” said Farrelly. “But I see continued softness in office demand.”
As of the end of the third quarter, New Hampshire’s office vacancy rate stood at 14.4 percent, up 3.4 percent year-over-year, according to Colliers International data.
New Hampshire Market
Much of the third-quarter vacancy rate is tied to major tenants abandoning spaces across the state, such as Liberty Mutual moving out of its giant office campus in Dover or Southern New Hampshire University adding sublease space to the market, according to Colliers.
Christian Stallkamp, a partner and senior broker at Boulos Company, agreed that employers are calling back workers to the office.
“We’re starting to see more cars in parking lots – which is good,” said Stallkamp, who covers the Seacoast region.
But that doesn’t mean the office market in Portsmouth, where the vacancy rate was 18.1 percent as of Sept. 30, is back to its pre-COVID levels.
County Close-Up Hillsborough
Amherst hosted the wedding of a U.S. president, although no one knew it at the time. Future President Franklin Pierce, then one of the state’s five congressmen, married Jane Means Appleton in a house on the town green.
B: Anthony Moscaritolo, Tr for Moscaritolo Wakefield Nh
BAddr: 29 Pearl Rd SAUGUS MA 01906
S: Carlton Cathcart & Ann M Cathcart
Bk/Page: 3803/986, Date: 12/24/24
NO STREET GIVEN
$199,000
BAddr: 489 Patten Hill Rd CANDIA NH 03034
S: Donald A Burnham & Darlene S Burnham
Bk/Page: 3803/537, Date: 12/23/24 NO STREET GIVEN $392,533
B: Guy S Dibella & Kristen R Dibella
BAddr: 16 Bond St MALDEN MA 02148
S: Jeffrey P Giovannini & Luis C Teixeira
Bk/Page: 3803/547, Date: 12/23/24
Moultonboro
▶ REAL ESTATE SALES
32 BRAUN BAY RD $4,125,000
B: Michelle Schuler
BAddr: 3 Belleau Rd SALEM MA 01970
S: 35 Braun Bay LLC
Bk/Page: 3803/260, Date: 12/20/24
Use: Accessory Land Improved, Lot: 21344sf
16 COSBERG RD $575,000
B: Susan Mauser
BAddr: 160 Governors Rd BROOKFIELD NH 03872
S: Kathryn D Clark
Bk/Page: 3803/544, Date: 12/23/24
Use: 2 Bdrm Ranch, Lot: 13939sf Ossipee
▶ REAL ESTATE SALES
245 BROWNS RIDGE RD $249,000
B: Catherine Panchishak & Mykhaylo Panchishak
BAddr: 26 Daigneau Dr MOULTNBOROUGH NH 03254
S: K A Miller-Mccarthy & Monique E Miller-Mccarthy
Bk/Page: 3803/1035, Date: 12/24/24
Mtg: CMG Mortgage Inc $213,349
Term: 2054
Use: 1 Bdrm Cottage, Lot: 348480sf NO STREET GIVEN $235,000
B: Carelle Rental Prop LLC
BAddr: 65 Weeks Dr WAKEFIELD NH 03830
S: David L Babson Jr T & Osman Babson 2nd
Bk/Page: 3804/246, Date: 12/27/24
How to Read The Real Estate Records
The information appearing in this newspaper is taken from deed and mortgage documents filed at each of the ten registries of deeds in the state. All property transfers with a sales price of at least $100 and all term-mortgage documents are collected. Whenever possible, we combine the separate deed and mortgage documents so that we can present one complete record of the street address, purchase price, lender and mortgage amount. When we cannot link a deed with a mortgage (and vice versa) each transaction appears individually.
Real estate records are organized alphabetically by registry, then town, then by street name.
The amount appearing on the same line as the street address is the purchase price from the deed. We print “No Amt Given” when the amount did not appear on the document we review. “No Street Given” appears in place of the street address when it was not available.
The volume, page of the deed and filing date appear for all sales.
The mortgage lender and the amount of the mortgage used to purchase the property are shown.
Any second mortgage (Mtg2) filed at the same time as the deed will also appear here.
In communities where we have a file of all properties from the assessor’s office, we provide additional property details when available. This is done by exactly matching the address and seller name from the new sales record with the address and owner name found in the property file. No descriptive data appears whenever there is any doubt that the two records are the same property.
The “Use” is based on the code the assessor assigns to each building on a parcel. Whenever there is more than one use code or more than one building on a parcel, we flag these as “Multi-use” and “Multi-bldg” respectively.
These deeds transfer title to the lender after the mortgage is foreclosed (unless there is a higher bidder at the auction.) The amount in these transactions is usually the amount of the outstanding mortgage that was foreclosed.
• Prior sale data appears only when the address of the new sale matches exactly with the address of the older sale
• “Use” distinguishes residential homes from land sales and commercial sales.
• For residential homes, the number of bedrooms and house style appear when available
• The lot size (Lot) is shown in square feet.
▶ FORECLOSURE DEEDS
• The prior sale shows the original price paid for the property.
Please note: The information contained in this newspaper is taken from public records. While every precaution is taken, no responsibility is assumed for errors or omissions. Readers should confirm any information before taking action.
TO
KEY TO LABELS
B = Buyer
S = Seller
Mtg =
and amount
$445,000
B: James J Shimansky Jr & Kelley B Shimansky
BAddr: 78 Cardinal St EASTWAKEFIELD NH 03830
S: Carlton J Cathcart & Ann M Cathcart
Bk/Page: 3803/667, Date: 12/23/24
Wolfeboro
▶ REAL ESTATE SALES
38 FILTER BED RD
B: Green Mtn Holdings LLC
Notice To Readers
The information published in The Registry Review is taken from public and other records.
The Warren Group takes reasonable steps to provide an accurate publication, however, The Warren Group has not investigated the accuracy of the source records and does not guarantee the accuracy of those records or any part of the transcription and publishing process.
$600,000
BAddr: 352 Sewall Rd WOLFEBORO NH 03894
S: Green Mountain Realty LLC
Bk/Page: 3803/661, Date: 12/23/24
Use: Commercial Building, Lot: 47916sf
Prior Sale: $65,000 (12/17)
19 GREENLEAF DR
B: Christine M Brann
$790,000
BAddr: 8994 Wildlife Loop SARASOTA FL 34238
S: Dennis J Ohern & Barbara A Ohern
Bk/Page: 3804/108, Date: 12/26/24
Mtg: JPMorgan Chase Bank $390,000
Term: 2054
Use: 3 Bdrm Cape Cod, Lot: 31363sf
Prior Sale: $310,000 (05/04)
N WAKEFIELD RD $7,533
B: Brian K Swinerton, Tr for Brian & S E Swinerton Ft
BAddr: 388 Stoddard Rd WOLFEBORO NH 03894
S: Jonathan Hopewell, Tr for Jonathan P Hopewell RET
Bk/Page: 3804/167, Date: 12/27/24
76-B PINE HILL RD $2,100,000
B: Green Mtn Holdings LLC
BAddr: 352 Sewall Rd WOLFEBORO NH 03894
S: Green Mountain Realty LLC
Bk/Page: 3803/664, Date: 12/23/24
Use: Residential-Multiple Bldgs, Lot: 405108sf
Prior Sale: $350,000 (09/20)
326 SEWALL RD
B: James A Wareham, Tr for Bella Vita T
$4,250,000
BAddr: 1402 Kirby Rd MCLEAN VA 22101
S: Robert B Palmer & Jacqueline Fleury
Bk/Page: 3804/264, Date: 12/27/24
Mtg: US Bank NA $2,975,000
Term: 2054 Rate: 6 0% Type: Adj
Use: 3 Bdrm Conventional, Lot: 28314sf
The Warren Group cautions you that public records may not reflect actual circumstances, and that the meaning of public records may be obscure. In addition, the conditions existing when a public record is filed may change with the passage of time. By accepting and using The Registry Review, you agree to use this publication for information only and only as a reference to the public records. You further agree to independently verify any published information which affects you before taking any action, forming opinions or otherwise relying on the published information in any way.
Publication of any category or item of information is dependent upon that information continuing to be reasonably available in the public records. The Warren Group assumes no responsibility for changes in public policy which may affect the availability of public information. The Warren Group assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors.
The Registry Review ISSN 1067-0521
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Portsmouth-based Lark Hotels announced its merger with hotel brand and operator Life House.
The new entity will be known as Lark Hospitality and will own or manage around 100 hotels and 33 restaurants and bars in the United States and Mexico.
Lark Hotels’ Rob Blood and Peter Twachtman will continue as Lark Hospitality’s chairman and CEO, respectively, the company said in an announcement.
“There is no company that has made everyone at Lark Hotels sharpen their pencils more than Life House,” Blood said in a statement. “Over the last five years, they have made us think deeply about who we are as a company, what our value proposition is for our stakeholders, and who we want to be going forward. As we come together, we look forward to incorporating the best practices of both of our companies to deliver exceptional experiences for our guests, investors, hotel owners and teams.”
Lark Hospitality’s brands now include Lark Hotels, Life House, Bluebird by Lark, Blind Tiger, AWOL and Lark Independent, and its owned or operated hotels will now total around 3,000 keys.
In New Hampshire, Lark owns or runs the Ale House Inn and Hotel Portsmouth in downtown Portsmouth, plus the Bluebird Su-
napee next to the Mt. Sunapee ski area and North Conway’s Cranmore Inn.
In its announcement, Lark Hospitality said it plans to continue adding new hotels to its portfolio via partnerships with “aspiring and existing hotel owners, family offices, private equity firms, and real estate developers.”
330 Apartments Pitched in Rochester, Manchester
BY JAMES SANNA REGISTRY REVIEW STAFF
Apair of development teams hope to bring a large number of apartments to Rochester and Manchester via three projects.
Developer D.R. Lemieux filed plans with Rochester officials for a 120-unit senior housing development. The four-building project would rise on a wooded lot behind an existing Rochester Housing Authority apartment complex on Olde Farm Lane, north of the city’s downtown.
And developer Tuck Realty Corp. has filed plans for a nearby wooded site that would complete the second phase of a condominium development first started in 1985. Foundations and some roadways are all that remain on the site to the west of Franklin Street and north of a utility corridor after the late-1980s recession put paid to those plans.
In Manchester, a development team has filed plans to replace a single-story restaurant in the city’s growing Gaslight District with a 50-unit apartment building.
The proposal is a joint project between an affiliate of Las Vegas-based fractional real estate investment company Coral Money Inc. and Boston-based Momo Design & Build.
The 6-story building proposed for 516 Elm St. would need zoning variances.
The 6-story building proposed for 516 Elm St. would need zoning variances for floor-area ratio and minimum buildable lot size, plus site plan approval from the city Planning Board, filings state. However, it otherwise meets dimensional requirements listed in the city zoning for the neighborhood, which is intended to encourage multifamily development.
The site is just behind the new, 250-unit 75 Canal apartment building developed by Jones Street Residential
Stallkamp said a “bifurcated” office market has emerged between small office buildings and large office buildings – with the former seeing more activity than the latter.
A positive sign in the office market: The vacancy rate in Manchester, by far the state’s largest office submarket, stood at only 8.5 percent as of the third quarter.
Some of Manchester’s comparatively low vacancy rate is attributable to recent conversions of office buildings to residential complexes, brokers note. But Manchester’s economy remains strong and vibrant, they note.
Another statewide plus for offices: Asking prices were up by 4.5 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, rising to $21.78, according to Colliers.
The industrial subsector has been the star of commercial real estate for a number of years now, due to huge e-retailer demand for warehouse and distributions spaces. A small comeback in manufacturing has also boosted demand for industrial space in New Hampshire.
But the industrial market noticeably slowed in 2024, with the vacancy rate rising by 2.5 percentage points to 5.6 percent in the third quarter, according to Colliers.
Meanwhile, industrial leases fell by 1.3 percent year-over-year to $11.89 per square foot in the third quarter, according to Colliers.
One of the main reasons for the slowdown:
Large e-commerce tenants, such as Amazon, have apparently found all the space they need and aren’t actively looking anymore, at least for now.
But there’s still intense competition for smaller amounts of industrial space across the state.
Meanwhile, many major and medium-sized tenants are on the hunt to buy industrial space in New Hampshire, preferring ownership over leasing, industrial officials say.
Bob Rohrer, managing director at ColliersNew Hampshire, said the industrial subsector has overall seen a “leveling off from the torrid pace’ of recent years.
Yet the industrial subsector remains strong – and should remain so in 2025.
“I think New Hampshire’s industrial [submarket] is in a good place,” Rohrer said.
Retail’s Back – But Not Every Asset
A relatively surprising CRE development in 2025: the comeback of retail.
Not all retail has made a comeback. Many large shopping malls, which have been hammered by e-commerce competition over the years, continue to struggle and adapt.
Some mall owners are even signing up casino tenants to fill large spaces vacated by previous big-box tenants, such as Sears, Toys R Us and Bed Bath and Beyond, as The Registry Review reported in October.
But smaller retail spaces are in demand again in some parts of the state, said Bill Nor-
Tuck’s plans outline 160 apartments in a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units in four 40-unit buildings with just under 300 parking spaces in a surface lot.
ton of Norton Asset Management.
Some of that demand is attributable to independent and boutique-shop owners rebounding from the bleak days of the pandemic, when many customers hunkered down in their homes and relied more on e-retailers for their shopping needs.
Yet some of the renewed demand for smaller spaces is also coming from larger downsizing firms, such as CVS, said Norton.
“There is now a counter-cycle of smaller [retailers] needing space,” Norton said. “There’s a churn in retail. There’s still a re-mix going on.”
In a recent report, Colliers noted that retail seems to be recovering in general in New Hampshire and the U.S.
Across southern New Hampshire, the retail market has remained stable, with vacancy rates shifting by only 0.1 percent, Colliers reported. In Portsmouth, the retail vacancy rate stood at only 2.1 percent.
“This stability is partly due to limited new deliveries, with only 3,800 square feet of new retail space added, helping to maintain flat vacancy rates despite negative net absorption over the past 12 months,” Colliers reported.
Plans show 19 parking spaces in a singlelevel underground garage, two commercial units on the ground floor and no other amenities. The unit mix in the plans stands at 10 studios and 40 two-bed, two-bath units.
between high demand and low supply within the housing market, which combined are driving up rents and homes prices and making the sector attractive to investors.
Late-year bank data from 2024 indicated that the multifamily lending market improved through the first nine months of the current year in New Hampshire, with multifamily purchase lending jumping by 18.4 percent to nearly $90 million compared to the same period in 2023, according to figures compiled by The Warren Group, the real estate analytics firm and publisher of The Registry Review and Boston’s Banker & Tradesman.
The office vacancy rate in Manchester, by far the state’s largest office submarket, stood at only 8.5 percent as of the third quarter.
In the short-term, there are concerns about how much more interest rates will come down in 2025 and whether the 10-year Treasury bond yield, considered a benchmark for the direction of mortgage rates and other loan products, will come down enough to attract increased multifamily investments.
And, with only 300,000 square feet of new
Nonetheless, most industry observers agree the longer-term economic fundamentals are all there for maintaining a strong multifamily subsector in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, New Hampshire Republicans,
P hoto by Read McKendree Courtesy of Lark Hospitality
The Block Island Beach House hotel on Block Island, Rhode Island, is one of around 100 hotels owned or managed by Lark Hospitality.
