NEWS: The median sales price of a home in New Hampshire was $525,000 in February, far beyond what’s affordable for most of the state’s households – and it’s only going to get higher as spring and summer buying season blooms.
WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU: Whether you want to buy a house, or you just live in New Hampshire, the high-priced housing market has an impact.
The median sales price for a house in New Hampshire the first two months of 2026 was $530,000. Prices usually rise with the temperature in the spring, so if you are hoping to buy a house, that number is likely to get even less affordable.
When the median price in the state reached an all-time high of $565,000 last year, industry experts determined it would take a household income of $182,000 to afford payments. That’s 15% of households in New Hampshire.
“Affordable” housing means different things to different people. There’s the official designation, which can be a hot button when it’s proposed for a neighborhood. There’s the mortgage lender’s definition when they’re considering your application. Then there’s the very specific definition when you sit down and crunch your numbers.
The high cost of housing, of course, isn’t just about buying a house. It also has an impact on how much rent you pay. There’s no such thing as an area with really high home prices and low or average rent. When people can’t afford to buy a house, they’re not moving out of their rental space, and that makes rental inventory low, too. Another factor is that the state’s housing stock is getting older and harder to maintain, but it’s costly to build new houses and rental housing. Developers have to make money to stay in business, and if they can’t cover the costs of building lower-priced housing, they can’t build it.
If you hope to buy a house, or just live in New Hampshire and want to make ends meet, affordable housing in all its forms has an impact. I know you have questions about affordability. I have some answers.
Question: When someone proposes an “affordable housing” development, what does that really mean?
Answer: “Affordable” housing when in reference to development is a specific term, defined by federal and state law. If a household spends more than 30% of its gross income on monthly housing (rent or mortgage, heat, insurance, property taxes), it’s not considered affordable. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uses a metric based on area median income and family size to determine whether housing being built is affordable. The amount varies by region within a state and changes every year.
The 2026 numbers aren’t available yet, but in 2025, Manchester’s household AMI was $122,8000, which means half of the households in the city earned more, half less. Nashua’s was $148,600. In contrast, Coos County’s was $88,800.
HUD considers a household that makes 80% of AMI to be low income; 60% very low income; 30% extremely low income. So, that means, you may qualify for affordable housing even though you don’t consider your income to be that low.
To qualify to live in affordable housing built with Low Income Housing Tax Credits, a Manchester resident must make 60% AMI or less – $51,600, for one person, $58,980 for a household of two, $66,360 for a household of three, etc.
Developers must charge rent, determined by a similar formula, that doesn’t exceed 30% of that income formula to qualify for federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The tax credits, and other financial incentives, make it financially possible for housing to be built.
I was a journalist at daily newspapers from 1983 until 2016, and during that long, long era rarely did I see an instance of affordable housing being proposed where it wasn’t getting pushback from the neighbors. I can’t count how many times I heard that a housing development would “change the character” of a neighborhood.
In reality, people who qualify for low-income housing are your friends, your neighbors, your family. People just like you. Maybe even you.
Q. So, who is housing not affordable for?
A. At the recent New Hampshire Housing annual Homeownership Conference, there was a great slide that showed median rents and how they compared to median income for in-demand and needed jobs in the state as defined by the state Department of Employment Security.
Median rent statewide for a two-bedroom apartment was $2,024. Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,668.
Only one profession, registered nurse, had a median monthly income – $2,254 – that covered an affordable two-bedroom rent. Police and sheriff’s department patrol officers had a median monthly income of $1,663. Following them were electricians, carpenters, substance abuse and mental health counselors, construction laborers, nursing assistants, home health and personal care attendants, and at the bottom, child care workers, who make a median $848 a month.
When people in these professions can’t afford to live here, it has a ripple effect on the quality of life, the tax base in your community, what services are available to you, and the overall economy.
In general, the U.S. Census American Community Survey recently published data that show nearly half of the state’s renters have housing costs that make them cost-burdened – housing costs them more than 30% of their income – a little more than a quarter of the state’s homeowners are.
In fact, nearly a quarter of renters pay 50% of their monthly income for housing and nearly 10% of homeowners do.
Q. What’s being done to make housing less expensive in New Hampshire?
A. It’s an ongoing effort – nearly 100 bills related to housing were introduced in the Legislature this session. There are a few reasons housing’s so expensive – a big one is lack of inventory. Another is the state’s high property taxes, which drive up housing costs.
It’s tough, especially with rising construction costs caused by tariffs and higher gasoline prices, among other things, to build new housing. There’s a big effort to change local zoning laws that allow higher density – more housing units on less land – and also make it easier to build manufactured housing, accessory dwelling units, and fix other out-of-date rules that are barriers to new housing. [Of course, no one is seriously considering changing the state’s tax structure, though someday someone’s going to have to. That’s a column for another day, though.]
One of the biggest barriers to solving the housing crisis is changing how people think about housing. Zoning laws created a half-century ago or more are often restrictive and designed to keep people out. They don’t really fit with today’s reality. We still hear it all the time – that may be needed, but it’s not a “good fit” for where I live. There’s an unearned stigma around many different kinds of housing, and those beliefs not only keep needed housing from being built, but make communities stagnant and hurt their bottom line.
Q. How do I figure out what price home I can afford?
A. TV has done potential homebuyers a big disservice. I won’t go into my whole rant here, but I wrote about it in my February 2024 It’s Your Money. In brief, don’t think of sticker price when you start considering home-buying. Think of monthly costs.
Realtor Carol Zisk-Mailloux, at the recent New Hampshire Homeowner’s Conference, said one big issue she comes across all the time is that people don’t understand that when they’re pre-approved for a mortgage, that includes property taxes. Depending on where the home is, property taxes can account for up to a quarter of the monthly bill.
When determining how much you can afford, figure out what you can pay monthly, including interest, property taxes and homeowner’s insurance.
To make it even less fun, be sure you have extra money for whatever the heating and electricity costs are – they’ll be higher with a house than they are with an apartment, especially if you want cathedral ceilings, multiple bathrooms and a chef’s kitchen.
Q. What else do I need to do if I want to find an affordable house?
Everyone’s financial situation is different, but there are some generalities that apply to anyone who wants to be in a position to buy a home:
1. Get your credit in good shape. The top thing you can do to lower how much you’ll pay monthly and overall for a home is to have the best credit you can possibly have. The better your credit, the lower the interest rate.
Let’s say you get a 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage on a $525,000 home – February’s median price. It comes with a 6.25% mortgage, which is at the low end, because you have a 720 credit score. You also can afford the $105,000 down payment, which is 20% of the home’s cost, so your mortgage will be for $420,000. Your monthly payment, without property tax and insurance, would be $2,586. You’ll end up paying $510,964 in interest alone, for a total $930,964, over 30 years.
Let’s say your credit isn’t as good, and your interest rate is 6.8%. Your monthly mortgage payment will be $2,738. Over 30 years you’ll pay $565,710 in interest, for a total $985,710.
To improve your credit score, make all of your credit card and other debt payments on time. Don’t max out your credit cards – banks like to see 30% or less of your credit limits used. A mix of different kinds of debt, and some older accounts also play parts.
A credit score is a measure of how good you are at paying debt. That means assets like savings and retirement accounts don’t have anything to do with it.
2. Save for a down payment. If you can’t make a 20% down payment, you’ll have to pay private mortgage insurance until you have 80% equity in the home. PMI is anywhere from $30 to $70 a month for every $100,000 you owe.
Aside from that addition to your monthly payment, you’ll also have a higher mortgage payment on the same-priced home. Let’s use the $525,000 house in the above example. With a 10% down payment of $52,500 and a 6.25% interest rate, the monthly mortgage payment will be $2,909. Remember, that doesn’t include insurance and property tax. If your interest is 6.8%, that’s a monthly payment of $3,080.
If your down payment is even lower, those monthly costs go up. We don’t have to do the math – you get the picture.
3. Lower your expectations. TV home-buying shows have definitely skewed our perceptions of what it means to buy a home. Everyone is looking for a dream home with all sorts of bells and whistles, when what they should be looking for is something that they can afford and their family can live in.
When looking at homes, concentrate on the bones, not the cosmetic issues. If the kitchen is functional, the color of the cabinets or appliances doesn’t matter. Ask about energy costs, the age of the roof, and other things that can cost or save money. Love cathedral ceilings? I hate to sound like my dad, but you might as well be burning money in your furnace, because that’s where the heat is going to go. I’m not saying don’t buy a home with cathedral ceilings, I’m just saying be sure to ask about heating costs and factor that in.
You don’t need a separate bedroom for each kid. If you’re from a big family, you likely shared a bedroom until you left home, and it only scarred you a little, right? In other words, if a big home comes with a bigger price tag, look at smaller homes you can afford.
There are a lot of changes you can make to a home once you’ve built equity, and the lower your mortgage payment, the faster that time will come.
4. Consider different towns or cities. Research where property taxes and home prices are lower, and look for homes in places you may not have thought of. Some people have more flexible lives than others. If you can live anywhere in New Hampshire, you may find some hidden gems. If you have kids and are aiming for a place with a really good school system, that probably also means higher property taxes. Don’t make assumptions, though, without looking carefully at places where it may be less expensive to live.
Low inventory, too, may make some of that choice for you. When there’s not a lot to choose from, buy the house that’s best for your household and budget instead of making an expensive location-based mistake.
5. Think of buying home as an investment. A home purchase is an investment. You build equity over a matter of years, sell it for a good price, and move on to a home that is closer to your “dream home.” Or build equity and make improvements that make the home yours.
One of the important things about buying a home that people often miss is that it’s a way to build wealth. Homes generally increase in value and if you maintain it and make smart improvements, it’ll pay you back. I know I’m being hard on the TV shows – and I love watching those shows, too – but look at a home through an investor’s and wealth-building lens, rather than your Instagram one.
A financially smart buy will get you the home you want in the long run.
Educate yourself. New Hampshire Housing has all sorts of resources for first-time homebuyers, and other homebuyers as well. You may find you qualify for downpayment assistance or another program, even if you think your income is too high. It may not be.
Taking a homebuying course, even if you’re not ready to buy, is a great way to get information and perspective.
Q. Should I be depressed about being able to buy a home, or even find an apartment I like that’s not costing me half my income?
A. No. Assuming we’re not talking about the very real clinical definition of depression [which is a discussion for another type of column], my philosophy is always choose action rather than feel pessimistic. There are things within your control, both personally and in the world at large.
As hard as it may be, make choices and take action that will get your finances in a place that can put you in a position to have more control over your housing prospects. It may seem impossible, but the better your finances are, the better they’ll get.
Learn about your options from credible sources, for instance, taking a home-buying course. If your finances are getting to where you can start thinking about buying or finding a nicer apartment, do some heavy research and put a lot of thought into the decisions you make.
It’s also important to pay attention to what’s going on in your town or city, and the state. Get involved in what your local representatives are doing about housing and zoning policy. Read up on, and understand the issues. Understanding incentives for developers and upgrading infrastructure, changing zoning laws and that type of thing may seem wonky, but that’s where the solutions lie.
If there’s a project going on in your neighborhood that will be a positive step for housing, go to the public hearing and speak in favor of it. It’s my experience that people tend to show up and speak out when they don’t want something, rather than when they do. Be a voice for change.
None of us live in a vacuum. The housing crisis, and the high cost of housing that comes with it, didn’t just happen, and it’s not going to go away on its own.
There’s no better cure for feeling powerless and pessimistic about something than to do whatever you can to change it. That’s something you can afford to do.
You can reach Maureen Milliken at mmilliken@manchesterinklink.com