NH home buying slowed down in October, but affordability remains a challenge

Home buying activity slowed in October, and the median price of a single-family house continued to decline from July’s historic high.

Home buying activity slowed in October, and the median price of a single-family house continued to decline from July’s historic high.

But affordability remains a dogged concern, according to new data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors and ATTOM, a curator of national residential real estate statistics.

“While it’s compelling to look for any signs of hope regarding the crushing lack of housing affordability, when considered historically it is clear that we still have an enormous hill to climb,” said Joshua Greenwald, NHAR president and owner broker of Greenwald Realty Group in Keene.

The median price of a single-family home in the state stood at $543,223 in October, according to new NHAR data.

That represents a continued decline from the historic high of $580,000 recorded in July of this year. August and September then came in at $570,000.

But that $543,000 is still 55% more than it was in 2020, when the median price of a home was $350,000.

Greenwald said he is seeing some of the usual signs of a fall slowdown in the selling season.

“I have noticed a general slowdown in the market and some listings not selling as quickly that normally would have flown off the shelves. I believe this is due to a decrease in buyers in the market, some of which is attributable to the fall season,” said Greenwald.

“This ought to help with restocking the shelves, and inventory levels will climb, ultimately resulting in decreasing prices and increased affordability,” he added. “In Keene, there are 30 single family homes for sale currently, while this time last year that number was more like 15. The general consensus from many listing agents is their active listings are not getting the activity they had expected.”

As Greenwald views it, the residential real estate market here is still out of balance — not enough affordable homes to meet the demand. That can be traced in a data point called months supply – a measure of how quickly existing inventory would sell. In a balanced market, the months supply stands at five or six.

“We are now 10 years removed from the last time we saw even the low end of a balanced market (5 months’ supply), and we currently have less than half the inventory of that time, and only 2.8 months’ supply in October,” said Greenwald.

Affordability remains a keyword in the current economy. It was a huge factor for voters in the results of the mid-term elections, across the country and here in New Hampshire.

The affordability index NHAR recorded for New Hampshire in October was 53. An index of 100 means a household has exactly the right amount of money to afford a home in a particular area. Under 100 means less affordable, over 100 means more affordable.

Using NHAR data to trace affordability shows a steady decline in the index, meaning homes have become less and less affordable over the period. The affordability index and the median price have had an inverse relationship — as the median price has gone up, the affordability index has gone down.

The last time the index was at 100 was early 2022. It was well over 200 in early 2012, when the median price of a house was just under $200,000.

According to ATTOM, the national real estate data curator, homes in 98% of all counties in the U.S. were less affordable in third quarter 2026 than historical norms.

“Affordability remained a challenge in the third quarter, even as some of the underlying factors moved in a favorable direction,” Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, said in a statement . “Home prices declined nationally and wage growth outpaced price growth in many counties, but those gains were not enough to meaningfully improve affordability across much of the country.”

According to ATTOM’s data, New Hampshire’s largest counties recorded indexes that showed underwater affordability in the third quarter, as follows:

• Strafford: 67.2
• Rockingham: 69.6
• Merrimack: 70.4
• Hillsborough: 71.4

Per NHAR, here are the median single-family home prices by county:

• Belknap $585,000
• Carroll $576,750
• Cheshire $420,00
• Coos $244,500
• Grafton $439,000
• Hillsborough $550,000
• Merrimack $507,500
• Rockingham $675,000
• Strafford $532,500
• Sullivan $390,000

And here are the median prices for townhouse/condominiums:

• Belknap $525,000
• Carroll $453,900
• Cheshire $470,000
• Coos $735,000
• Grafton $332,500
• Hillsborough $360,000
• Merrimack $355,000
• Rockingham $500,000
• Strafford $396,000
• Sullivan $455,000

Rockingham County remains the price leader for single-family homes, largely fueled by the Seacoast area, which had a single-family median price of $875,000 in October.

The stat comes from the Seacoast Board of Realtors, which takes its data from 13 sample communities: Exeter, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, New Castle, Newfields, Newington, North Hampton, Newmarket, Portsmouth, Rye, Seabrook, and Stratham.

The Housing We Need conference put on by The Initiative for Housing Policy and Practice (IHHP) at Saint Anselm College will be held Friday, Dec. 11, at the college’s Institute of Politics.

This year’s conference will envision what the institute describes as the “next generation of starter homes.”