The New Hampshire housing market moved into the fall season with home prices continuing to climb, sales holding steady, and more properties coming onto the market, according to September data from NHAR.
NEW HAMPSHIRE MONTHLY INDICATORS
The median sales price for a single-family home reached $569,900 in September, a 6.5 percent increase from September 2025, leading to an NHAR Affordability Index of 51, the lowest in more than 20 years. It means the state’s median household income is just 51 percent of what is necessary to qualify for the median-priced home under today's mortgage rates, which have increased to over 7 percent.
Despite the higher prices, the number of transactions remained essentially unchanged from a year ago. There were 1,310 closed sales in September, compared with 1,314 in September 2025, a decline of less than one-half of one percent.
September typically marks the beginning of the fall housing market, during which sales activity begins to slow from the summer months. This year, however, the year-over-year sales numbers suggest that buyer demand remains resilient despite higher home prices and rising mortgage rates.
“We are seeing some encouraging signs for buyers, particularly with more homes coming onto the market, but New Hampshire still has a significant shortage of housing,” said Josh Greenwald, 2026 NHAR President and broker/owner at Greenwald Realty in Keene. “The issue isn’t difficult to identify: Home prices continue to rise because demand continues to outpace the supply of homes available for sale.”
The number of single-family homes on the market in September was 19 percent higher than a year ago, while new listings increased 6.4 percent from September 2025.
Homes are also taking slightly longer to sell. The median number of days on market increased to 13 days, compared with 11 days in September 2025. Even with that increase, homes continue to sell quickly by historical standards.
New Hampshire had just 2.9 months of housing inventory in September, a figure that has remained unchanged for the past three months. A healthy, more balanced housing market would generally have at least five months of available inventory. It has been a full 10 years since the last time New Hampshire saw five months’ supply.
“The number of homes sold in September was virtually unchanged from a year ago, yet the median price increased 6.5 percent,” said Greenwald. “Taking a longer view, over the past 12 months, home prices are up 4.2 percent and continue to rise faster than inflation.
“That tells us the fundamental challenge in New Hampshire hasn’t changed, and we simply don’t have enough housing to meet demand and start to bend the cost curve.”
For NHAR's full slate of market data, including our Monthly Indicators report and detailed county- and town-level reports, visit our FastStats landing page. To create your own customizable and brandable market reports, visit NHAR's members-only InfoSparks page.
Questions? Please email Vice President of Communications and Member Engagement Dave Cummings (dave@nhar.com), or call 603-554-7855.
