housing permits out of inventory new hampshire It’s reached a 20-year high, but even that big burst of momentum isn’t enough to solve the Granite State’s challenges.
A. latest housing supply report from New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) showed that cities and towns across the state issued building permits for the construction of 5,822 homes in 2024; this number was the highest since 2005.
Realtor.com® Senior Economist Joel Berner He says the biggest hurdle facing New Hampshire’s housing market is a shortage of homes, especially affordable ones, so the increase in permits should be a welcome development, giving buyers more options.
“If new construction is large enough, it can lead to less competition among buyers and lower prices for those homes,” he says.
Assuming all permitted homes are built by the beginning of 2026, New Hampshire’s housing stock has increased by about 26,000 since 2020, reflecting the strongest construction cycle in decades.
“As a state, we have been quite successful in reducing the waiting times for permits. Matt MayberryCEO New Hampshire Home Builders Associationtells Realtor.com®.
Mayberry attributes this permitting increase to a number of initiatives aimed at improving efficiency, including a state mandate requiring towns to accept third-party inspectors, the adoption of a unified statewide building code, and a drastic cut of allowable windows for driveways and land changes.
Even though this milestone has been reached, New Hampshire remains short of the tens of thousands of homes needed to meet demand.
According to the 2023 assessment, more than 32,700 homes needed to be built as of last year to reach the ultimate goal of 88,000 new units by 2040 to achieve a balanced market.
So far, New Hampshire’s construction pace remains 20% below the watermark, and an additional 62,676 homes will be needed to meet the 2040 housing goal.
According to Mayberry, the main culprit for New Hampshire’s housing crisis is a critical workforce shortage tied to demographics: The median age in New Hampshire is 43.4, making the Granite State the nation’s second-oldest state, tied with Vermont and behind only Maine.
“We tend to attract slightly older people, but that also means their grandchildren may come to visit, the grandchildren won’t move in here,” says the NHHBA CEO, explaining the dearth of working-age residents.
In an effort to increase the number of skilled builders and tradespeople statewide, Mayberry’s organization works with high schools and colleges to eliminate the stigma associated with construction-related professions.
“People still think that housing construction is a dirty, sweaty job for minimum wage. That’s not all,” says Mayberry. “Give me a plumber who’s been in the field for three years and they’re probably making more than Columbia graduates.”
Another major problem that bottlenecks new home construction is cities’ reluctance to relax minimum zoning areas.
“We have towns that will require a minimum lot size of 3 acres for each home,” Mayberry says. “So before you even turn a spoonful of soil, your house is already worth $300,000.”
In February, the median listing price in New Hampshire was $584,000; this was roughly $180,000 above the national figure. same month, Manchester, New Yorkregained his title The hottest housing market in the country After almost a year, thanks to strong buyer demand and tight supply.
Perhaps unsurprisingly in November, Realtor.com State-by-State Housing Report Card He gave New Hampshire a C grade, highlighting a widening gap between supply and demand due to affordability constraints and low construction rates.
Governor since taking office in January 2025. Kelly Ayotte, A Democrat has made housing a cornerstone of his agenda by signing a bipartisan bill that aims to loosen zoning restrictions, speed up the construction process and allow property owners to build detached accessory dwellings (ADUs).
The latest permitting report shows Ayotte’s actions are starting to bear fruit: Housing units in multi-unit buildings represented more than 60% of units added in 2025; this was the highest share recorded more than 50 years ago.
But Mayberry says many towns have remained resistant to increased density by allowing the construction of multifamily housing because existing residents operate with a “not in my backyard” mentality and are zealously focused on preserving community character.
“They don’t understand that it increases their costs. It doesn’t help them,” he says.
State data confirms that housing production is geographically limited; Fewer than two dozen fast-growing towns, home to 43% of the state’s population, accounted for 63% of housing built last year.
To make meaningful progress on housing affordability, Mayberry says all 234 municipalities that make up New Hampshire must be involved in development, from apartments to microparcels and office to condo conversions.
He warns that towns that continue to cling to NIMBYism do so at their own peril.
“For those towns that say, no, I want my 8-acre minimum parcels, when you’re sitting on the kitchen floor waiting for the ambulance to arrive, but the nearest ambulance service is now 40 minutes away, you really wish you had created housing for those firefighters and EMS workers,” the CEO concludes.
