A new study shows that New Hampshire ranks ninth among states where residential mortgages are rising the fastest.
The news doesn’t help ease the myriad concerns associated with the state’s ongoing housing crisis.
“New Hampshire saw its average mortgage interest rate increase by a full percentage point between Q1 2026 and Q2 2026, bringing the rate to 6.53%. That was the ninth-largest increase in the country,” said Chip Lupo, an analyst for WalletHub, which released its survey Sept. 24.
“The higher rate may add to existing financial pressures for homeowners, as New Hampshire ranks eighth among the states adding the most mortgage debt and seventh for the largest increase in mortgage delinquency,” Lupo added.
Mortgage rates rose in 37 of the 50 states between Q1 2026 and Q2 2026, according to the report, some at higher rates than others.
In Mississippi, the average mortgage rate in the first quarter was 5.54%, but the rise from Q1 2025 was 1.92% making it No. 1 among states where the interest rate rose the fastest.
Also ahead of New Hampshire in that regard were: Colorado, average rate 5.33%, change in rate 1.6%; Tennessee, rate of 4.96%, up 1.57%; Wisconsin, rate of 5.26%, up 1.23%; Missouri, rate of 5.69%, up 1.14%; North Carolina, rate of 5.21%, up 1.10%; Kansas, rate of 6.5%, up 1.1%; Arkansas, rate of 5.13%, up 1.04%, then New Hampshire at No. 9 with a rate of 6.54%, up 1%.
The squeeze on affordability, as applied by interest rates, is likely to remain. Analysts pretty much agree that 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates are expected to stay elevated in the mid-to-high 6% range through late 2026 and early 2027,
While not the number one deciding factor about whether to buy or sell a home, according to Joshua Greenwald, president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors (NHAR), interest rates do come into play here in New Hampshire where inventory is tight and prices are high.
“It doesn’t help,” said Greenwald, owner/broker of Greenwald Realty Group in Keene. “You have your insurance, your taxes, your mortgage payment, which is your interest, and then of course your principal. But we can’t afford any of them to go up.”
Even a percentage point can make a difference.
Let’s say you’re buying a single-family home in New Hampshire for $570,000, which is the current median price in the state. And you’re putting down 20% and you’ve got a decent credit score of 700, and your household income is $105,000 a year. At 6.5%, you’d have a monthly principal and interest payment of $2,882.
Just a year ago, when the rates here were about 1% less, according to WalletHub, that same mortgage would have been $2,589 per month.
The issue of housing affordability has been a nagging one for New Hampshire. Policy makers are trying to make the creation of new housing easier. While still not what it should be in terms of supply, Greenwald said he’s seeing signs that it is gradually getting better.
“Even though we’re trending in a good direction. in terms of supply, there’s been no meaningful impact on affordability,” said Greenwald.
According to the latest NHAR data, the median single-family price recorded for September at $570,000 is about the same as it was in August ($569,500) and up from $535,000 in September 2025.
The September median price of a townhouse/condominium was $415,000, down from August’s $435,000, up from $406,500 in September 2025.
A manufactured home had a median of $157,450 in September, down from $181,200 in August and down from $165,000 in September 2025.
According to WalletHub, the higher interest rates exacerbate an already expensive proposition of home ownership in the Granite State.
“Homeownership costs are also relatively high, as New Hampshire has the fourth-highest real-estate property tax rates, at 1.66%, resulting in about $6,667 in annual taxes on a home priced at the state median value,” Lupo said. “Together, these factors can make the impact of rising mortgage rates more significant for New Hampshire residents looking to purchase a home or refinance.”
Greenwald also sees interest rates as a piece of the puzzle when it comes to a home’s affordability.
“I personally think most of my clients — and probably clients in general — are settled into the fact that interest rates are a little higher. So I don’t think, if it goes up a quarter of a point, people are gonna be like: Oh, well, that’s it, we’re out. What’s keeping people out of the market is lack of options and affordability,” he said. “It’s just all wrapped up into one package.”
The interest rate issue really affects those homeowners who are sitting on a mortgage with an interest rate under 5%, and they’re not willing to trade for an interest rate close to 7%. And those homeowners, according to Greenwald, tend to be older Granite Staters, who have been in their homes for many years.
Greenwald laid it out this way: “Somebody’s like: I’m sitting pretty on a nice low mortgage, and you know what? I think I’ll just stay put because there’s no guarantee I’m going to find what I want to live in anyway, and my dollar does not go nearly as far as it did when I bought the house that I’m in. So why would I move?”
There’s been White House pressure on the Federal Reserve to push the prime interest rates down in an effort to get other interest rates down, such as those for new cars and mortgage rates for homes.
But even President Donald Trump’s hand picked Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has been reluctant to lower rates and in fact has raised them as a hedge against too much inflation.
“Everyone wants interest rates down, because then they’re like: Well, great, and everyone will start borrowing and borrowing, and buying. But if they want to stave off inflation, which is a whole other animal, that’s really one of the only mechanisms for doing it,” Greenwald said.
“But overall,” he added. “I’m not hearing any astronomical interest rates that are going to make people shut the door on making a move or entering the market, unless they’re still sitting on one of those juicy 2 to 3% interest rates.”
The number of homes that were available for sale in September (3,164) was up slightly from August (3,099), but up appreciably from September 2025 (2,653) and January (1,495), according to the NHAR data.
The data point called months supply is the number of months it would take to sell all currently listed homes in a given market. A balanced months supply is four to six months. In New Hampshire in September, the months supply was three; in January it was 1.4.
A new study shows that New Hampshire ranks ninth among states where residential mortgages are rising the fastest. The news doesn’t help ease the myriad concerns associated with the state’s ongoing housing crisis.
Permitting and construction of new homes is up, but it’s still at historic lows and not enough to keep up with demand. The recent housing production is mostly single-family, with a smattering of multi-family developments but relatively few duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.
Ask a developer about the best way to bring down the cost of new housing in New Hampshire, and he’ll tell you it’s allowing more density. That was the case Sept. 17 when New Hampshire Business Review (NHBR) hosted a webinar on housing that included Eric Jackson from the Stabile Companies, a housing developer/builder based in Nashua.
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