Market shift or seasonal shift?

Summer selling season ends with better news for buyers in NH’s residential real estate market

Joshua Greenwald is seeing some subtle changes in New Hampshire’s residential real estate market, trends he describes as “little wisps” that might— just might — indicate a shift in the high demand, high prices home buyers have experienced for the past several years.

Greenwald, president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors (NHAR), is seeing a little more inventory, a little less frenzied buying, and some properties on the market for a little longer.

“Real estate operates like the New England seasons,” said Greenwald, broker/owner of Greenwald Real Estate in Keene, noting that sales can run hot during the summer selling season, then cool off into the winter.

Reading the tea leaves of what the market might or might not do here — looking at factors such as demand, pricing, buyer fatigue, interest rates — can be admittedly tricky.

“Whether these represent a trend or seasonal development, that remains to be seen,” said Greenwald. “It could be the beginning of a price recalibration.”

The median price of a single-family home in August was $569,000, according to the latest NHAR data. That’s lower than the July median of $580,000 (which was an all-time record high), lower than the June median of $575,000, and lower than the May median of $576,000.

It is higher, by 3.45%, than the August 2025 median of $550,000.

And the summer as a whole, according to the data, was a hot one for the market.

NHAR reported that the median sales price of a single-family home reached $575,000 from June through August, up 3.6% from the same summer period of 2025. And despite rising prices, buyers remained active, with closed sales increasing by more than 8%.

The association reported that some communities saw sharper summer price gains than others.

Among municipalities with at least 50 sales, Laconia led the way with an increase of more than 16%, followed by Dover and Goffstown at 14%.

Meanwhile, Hudson, Keene and Portsmouth all recorded lower median prices than last summer. Even with a 2.4% decline, however, Portsmouth’s median sales price remained $912,500.

According to Greenwald, summer prices rose most significantly in Belknap County ($580,000; up 13.2%) and Sullivan County ($445,000; up 12%); while Hillsborough ($580,000, up 0.4%) and Merrimack counties ($532,500, up 1.4%) saw more modest price gains.

He noted that “price increases were not limited to single-family homes.”

The median sales price for condominiums increased 3.5% this summer compared with the summer of 2025, nearly identical to the 3.6% increase for single-family homes, he said. Condos recorded a $540,000 median in August.

Manufactured housing experienced a significantly larger increase, according to Greenwald. The median sales price of a manufactured home climbed 10% to $186,750 in August, “reflecting growing demand for more affordable homeownership options,” he said.

“All in all, the summer was strong, but I am starting to see little wisps of change,” said Greenwald.

Here are the indicators that give Greenwald some hope that the market might be recalibrating away from long lingering conditions that favors the seller, leaving the buyer with fewer choices and higher prices:

• Inventory continued to improve in August, with 3,038 single-family homes available for sale, an 18% increase from August 2025. In January, there were just 1,502 homes for sale and the number has climbed steadily since then.
• The months supply data point was 2.8 in August, the highest that it’s been in years. Months supply is a real estate metric that shows how many months it would take to sell all current homes on the market at the present sales pace. A balanced real estate market generally has 4 to 6 months of housing supply. New Hampshire’s supply has had months where the index was below 1 and 2.

By any matrix, housing availability and affordability is top of mind among Granite Staters.

New information from the New Hampshire Forum, a bipartisan statewide civic engagement initiative, shows housing ownership and affordability as a top concern.

The Forum released what it calls its Phase Two Report of the issues that discussions among 326 people in Concord and Nashua produced. Those discussions were built on a polling of residents in phase one.

According to the Forum, “contributors described a housing market that is hard to enter and hard to stay in. Part of the concern is cost: Rents and home prices have outpaced wages, affecting workers, young adults, first-time buyers and even higher earners. Part of the concern is who is buying; residents worry that ordinary buyers are competing against corporate investors and large property holders, including in rural communities.”

With an eye toward legislation in the 2027 session, the Forum lists the following proposals for action by representatives and senators:

• Increase housing density and use ADUs, creative and alternative housing types.
• Increase the supply of smaller, downsizing-appropriate homes.
• Fund the Housing Champions program and review eligibility criteria.
• Regulate corporations, private equity buying up housing and require them to pay more in taxes.
• Reverse the affordable–luxury ratio and build entry-level “starter” homes.

NH Business Review on Thursday, Sept. 17, has scheduled a webinar focused on housing that, among other topics, explores the latest trends on land use and development, how zoning disputes are playing out in the courts and what innovations have shown the most promise.

“Housing Trends 2026: From the Ground Up,” featuring a panel of experts from Sheehan Phinney, New Hampshire Housing and The Stabile Companies, will be held from 11 a.m. to noon.