U.S. house gross sales skyrocketed through the COVID-19 pandemic – hitting a 15-year excessive of 6.1 million in 2021. The spike in demand, coupled with declining stock, have put upward stress on housing costs. Renters haven’t been spared, as housing has turn out to be one of many key drivers of surging U.S. inflation.
In response to the Financial Coverage Institute, a nonprofit suppose tank, a household of 4 – two adults and two kids – can count on to pay an estimated $15,031 on housing in 2022. This quantity varies throughout the nation, nonetheless.
In New Hampshire, a household of 4 will spend a mean of $15,267 on housing per 12 months, the twelfth highest quantity amongst states, in accordance with the EPI’s Household Funds Calculator. This quantity displays each housing and utilities prices for a modest two-bedroom rental.
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Housing prices are partially pushed by what residents can afford, and states with larger rental prices additionally typically have larger than common household incomes, and vice-versa. New Hampshire is not any exception. Simply as housing prices are larger than common in New Hampshire, so, too, are incomes. The standard household within the state earns $97,001 a 12 months, in comparison with the nationwide common of $80,069.
Housing value figures on this story are 2022 estimates from the EPI and household revenue figures are five-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Group Survey.
Reception at the Millyard Museum for the historic housing exhibition. Photo/Stacy Harrison
MANCHESTER, NH – On Wednesday, May 8, a small crowd of privileged guests filled the exhibit hall of the Millyard Museum to get a sneak preview of an exhibit that tells the story of the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority; a story eight decades in the making, which Kathy Naczas, Executive Director of MHRA, describes as “a cornerstone of Manchester’s history.”
The MHRA, along with thousands of other Housing Authorities in the country, have been fighting since 1937, after the passing of the US Housing Act, to provide affordable public housing in cities and towns. The fruits of this fight have touched “all but one of Manchester’s boroughs,” Naczas said.
“There’s just so many things that [the MHRA] were involved with and a lot of folks in the city don’t even know that,” Naczas said.
It took until 1941 for MHRA to be confirmed by Manchester citizens, raising it up as the first housing authority in the state. Just three years later they completed their first project, an 85-unit “emergency temporary war housing development known as Grenier Heights off South Willow Street,” according to History of the Manchester Housing & Redevelopment Authority, by Lisa Mausolf, a packet distributed at the exhibit preview. The development created housing for “indisposable in-migrant civilian war workers,” according to Mausolf.
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From left, Museum executive director Jeff Barraclough, Aurora Levesque, Catherine Kathy Naczas, Shannon Wright, Lisa Mausolf and Dan Naczas. Photo/Stacy Harrison
Postwar, The MHRA hit the ground running completing several housing projects for returning veteran families at what was Barry Playground on Pine Street.
The MHRA met the need for low-income housing post-war as well by building The Rimmon Heights Housing Project, “the first state-assisted housing project constructed in NH,” according to Mausolf.
Construction went from 48, opening in October of 49 and was praised as “one of the most modern and substations subsidized high-cost, low rent apartment projects in the country,” by Manchester Sunday News. Rimmon Heights is still around, now known as Kelly Falls after being renamed in 1988.
The MHRA would continue for another two decades building and renewing housing projects all over Manchester until 1961, when they began its most ambitious and influential undertaking, The Amoskeag Millyard Urban Renewal Project in, the project that Naczas calls “the centerpiece,” of MHRA’s legacy.
According to Mausolf and Naczas, “The Amoskeag Millyard Project was the first industrial rehabilitation project in the nation undertaken under federal urban renewal legislation…and was considered the most ambitious industrial urban renewal project ever done in our nation (at the time).” The project cost 24 million dollars and took twelve years to complete.
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The Millyard at the time was a commercial space that represented nearly a quarter of Manchester’s workforce, according to Mausolf. If the Millyard was to keep its economic momentum it needed desperate adaptations to coincide with modern industry. Parking and shipping lanes were dismal, the canal and its sewer systems were becoming a health hazard, buildings were stacked on top of each other, too narrow for modern manufacturing and many were in disrepair, infested by blight or worse, anthrax.
Photo Gallery/Stacy Harrison
All in all it was determined that one-third of the Millyard and its components had to go. The canal was filled in, buildings were refurbished or torn down and by the end of 1979 the Millyard we know today was complete.
What Naczas finds the most special about this exhibit is how well-documented the MHRA’s work was and all the hurdles it cleared on the path toward its completion.
The idea for the exhibit took shape after Naczas was shown a “historians’ treasure trove” that had been quietly fermenting in the attic of the MHRA’s office. “It had 3-D models, original architectural drawings, it had field books…it was an amazing collection…it needed to be preserved,” she said
Naczas promptly contacted the then-director of the Manchester Historical Association, John Clayton, who she said, was just as thrilled to come across the cache.
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Then along came Covid, which put the project on a seemingly permanent hiatus. Years passed until the project could resurface, when local artist Dave Hady was commissioned to create a mural on one of the pillars of the Bridge Street bridge outside Arms Park. Dave Hady’s pillar mural depicting Joe Nelson of Manchester, who was instrumental in the preservation and revival of the millyard.
“It was Dave’s Mural that reminded me of all the history that (the MHRA) had and that we needed to revisit preserving all of the stuff that was in that attic,” Naczas said.
And Naczas is right; the mural is a powerful metaphor honoring those hidden civil servants who, in regards to the mural at least, quite literally hold up the infrastructure of cities all around the country.
As the project officially got underway Naczas and her colleagues, faced with the sheer amount of historical records and data, realized the need for a historic intern.
“We knew this project was going to be time-consuming and if we had to catalog and painstakingly go through everything, trying to decide what needed to be preserved and what we could discard…I could not possibly fathom doing this project,” Naczas said.
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Aurora Levesque from Rivier University came recommended by Dan Naczas, Academic and Career advisor for Rivier University and relative of Kathy Naczas.
“She is and was the absolute perfect intern, Dan was one hundred percent right, but she is also the most remarkable young person I have met in a long time,” Naczas said.
Levesque was described as the lynch pin of the whole exhibit. “Without her this story would have never been told and this exhibit would never have happened,” Naczas said.
“Aurora worked tirelessly for ten months in a large dusty attic, with very old files and artifacts, in extreme heat and extreme cold. And I will forever have the image of Aurora sitting in an attic with two space heaters, gloves and a winter coat, painstakingly going through every file, every article, every deed, every picture and dusting things off…it was an amazing effort. I could not have asked for a better person who would appreciate the story that needed to be told,” Naczas said.
Naczas’ appreciation was even higher because she was somewhat part of the story herself. Her father Kenny Harlen worked for the MHRA.
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“I attended every grand opening of every high-rise building, the center of New Hampshire. There are pictures of me as an elf handing out Christmas gifts to the seniors in our properties…I also had a front-row seat to the Millyard Project…Joe Nelson was my Uncle.” Naczas said. “So this is as much my legacy exhibit as it is the Housing Authority’s.”
MHRA commissioner, Andrew Papanicolaou came to the podium for closing remarks before letting attendees view the exhibit. He highlighted the history of the Housing Authority and why its mission is still as important, if not more important today as it was back then.
Papanicolaou grew up in Manchester running around his grandfather’s hotel, The Shadelock. The hotel stood where The Center of New Hampshire, which was an MHRA project, is now.
“I have been involved with the MHRA since 2016…but I guess I was first introduced to the Housing Authority when they took down my grandfather’s hotel,” Papanicolaou said.
Papanicolaou described his grandfather’s hotel as a rooming house. “It helped out a lot of the unfortunate, a lot of the veterans were there…There were 31 rooms and it was an integral part of the city because it was subsidized so people would have a place to live,” Papanicolaou said.
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Papanicolaou said bringing those types of support to the city back is one of the biggest goals for the MHRA.
“I wish there were similar types of facilities today because we wouldn’t have some of the issues we have in the city if we still had them,” Papanicolaou said.
Looking to the future, Papanicolau highlighted the fact that the MHRA is fighting the same fight as so many citizens of New Hampshire are fighting; the pursuit of affordable housing. He said the MHRA is getting back to its redevelopment roots, just finishing the Upland Heights project, a 132-unit apartment complex on the west side, which Papanicolau says is “truly affordable housing for the city; it’s what the city needs.”
Papanicolau describes the work of the MHRA as integral to Manchester’s future.
“The city needs more of our involvement to get people into this type of housing,” Papanicolau said.
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“If you’ve grown up [in Manchester] you know the demographics of this city. The housing that is being built in this city right now is not for those demographics, it never will be. ” Papanicolau said.
Papanicolau would like to be optimistic and hope that outside citizens will invest in Manchester, but he knows deep down he can only for certain count on the institution he represents. “The housing authority and its developments is that critical part we need to keep going in the city,” he said.
At the end of the day Papanicolau recognizes that the work the MHRA does in the present is just as important as it was in the past, speaking of the Upland Heights project.
“It was really amazing to see the reaction of all the employees when they started to fill those units…it really hit home that what we do as employees [at the MHRA] affects lives, because so many people were happy to be in those homes. That’s what’s amazing about what we do as a whole and what we bring to the city, which I’m going to try to be a part of for as long as I can,” Papanicolau said.
And with those words the attendees departed for the exhibit. We flooded into the adjacent room to inspect the records and the story they told for ourselves. If you would like to learn more of the story of the MHRA or see the exhibit for yourself make your way to the Manchester Millyard Museum at 200 Bedford Street.
CONCORD, NH — If you have been waiting for some warm weather, it is about to arrive.
According to weather forecasters, it will feel like summer this week, just a tad earlier.
On Monday, expect sunny skies with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid-50s. There will be a light breeze in the afternoon.
It will mostly be sunny again on Tuesday with highs in the upper 80s and lows in the lower 60s. There will also be a bit of light wind.
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Forecasters said Wednesday will be mostly sunny and hot — with highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s. The temps will drop back down into the mid-60s during the evening and morning hours.
There is a 40 percent chance of showers after 2 p.m. on Thursday, with highs in the upper 80s and lows in the mid-50s, with a 30 percent chance of showers before 8 p.m. in the evening.
The weekend looks good, too, with sunny skies and highs in the 70s.
The latest weather conditions can be found on the front page of every Patch.com site in the United States, including the 14 New Hampshire Patch news and community websites covering Amherst, Bedford, Concord, Exeter, Hampton, Londonderry, Manchester, Merrimack, Milford, Nashua, North Hampton, Portsmouth, Salem, Windham, and Across NH. Local weather reports for New Hampshire are posted on Sundays and Thursdays. Alerts are published when needed.
Get Out, New Hampshire
Here is a roundup of fun things to do in the Granite State.
Rising housing costs, combined with diminished inventory, create barriers to adequate housing for both homeowners and renters across the Granite State. The median sale price for a single-family house reached a record $515,000 in preliminary data for April 2024, with prices for condominiums slightly decreasing to $400,000. These rising costs and declines of housing inventory contribute to the lack of affordable housing available for individuals and families across the state. Problems facing New Hampshire’s potential homeowners also have negative impacts for renters, particularly among renters with low incomes who are more likely to be cost-burdened by increased prices and less likely to be able to transition to the market for purchasing a home.
Increased Prices for Homebuyers
According to data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors (NHAR), the median sale price of a single-family house rose to $515,000 in April 2024, a small increase from the revised median price of $499,950 for March 2024. Single-family house prices typically increase during the Spring and Summer months. However, prices have also increased rapidly on an long-term basis, rising by 80.3 percent between the median price of $269,000 for the first four months of 2018 and the median price of $485,000 for the first four months of 2024. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage for April 2024 was 6.99 percent, and the average 2023 property tax rate across New Hampshire’s cities and towns would result in an annual property tax of $9,439, if it were taxed based on the April 2024 median sale price. Using these figures and a 5 percent down payment of $25,750, a homebuyer would need to pay a monthly mortgage of $4,039 to afford this median-priced house, not inclusive of homeowner’s insurance or private mortgage insurance. Based on the most recently available data from the U.S. Census Bureau, a household would need to spend nearly 54 percent of its monthly income ($7,499 was the median monthly household income estimate for 2022) in order to keep up with mortgage and property tax payments.
While monthly data can be more volatile, condominium prices are also higher thus far in 2024 compared to previous years. The median price of a condominium was $400,001 for the first four months of 2024, a 50.3 percent increase from the median price of $199,000 for the first four months of 2018; this was a larger percent increase than for single-family houses during that same time period (80.3 percent).
New Hampshire’s rising housing prices have surpassed those of neighboring New England states. According to the Maine Association of Realtors, Maine’s prices were lower than New Hampshire in March 2024, with a median price of $380,000 for a single-family house in Maine compared to New Hampshire’s $499,950 for that month. The median price of a single-family house in Vermont was $376,000 in March 2024, according to current data from the Vermont Association of Realtors lower than comparable prices in both Maine and New Hampshire. Although New Hampshire single-family house prices remain lower than Massachusetts, prices have grown slightly faster in the Granite State. In March 2023, the median price of a single-family house in New Hampshire was $447,900, and the price increased by 11.6 percent to $499,950 in March 2024; in Massachusetts, the median price increased by 8.9 percent, from $560,000 in March 2023 to the most recently reported median price of $610,000 in March 2024.
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Housing prices differ greatly between New Hampshire counties. In 2023, the median sale prices for single-family houses were highest in Rockingham, Hillsborough, and Carroll Counties, reaching $600,000, $490,000, and $465,000, respectively. While only Coos, Sullivan, and Cheshire Counties experienced median prices under $400,000 in 2023, these counties also had some of the largest percent increases compared to 2018; Coos County median single-single family house prices rose from $113,000 to $230,000 (103.5 percent) between 2018 and 2023, while Sullivan County’s increased from $180,000 to $341,900 (89.9 percent) and the Cheshire County median price rose from $194,250 to $340,500 (75.3 percent). Rising housing prices in certain geographic areas impact where individuals and families are able to live, and can have implications for employment and educational opportunities, social supports, and other necessary resources.
Declining Inventory of Single-Family Houses
Rapidly increasing housing prices across the Granite State reflect the drastic decline in inventory for single-family houses on the market. According to NHAR, there were a total of 1,435 single-family houses on the market across the entire state in April 2024. While the monthly average of 1,308 houses for sale per month thus far this year is a small increase from the same period in 2023, the 2024 average to date is a 69.9 percent decline from the monthly average of 4,346 houses for the first four months of 2018. Overall, inventory has been on a steady decline on an annual basis since 2018, with the most substantial recent drop occurring between 2019 and 2020.
While inventory has steadily declined since 2018, the number of closed sales for single-family houses across the state rose slightly in 2019 and 2020 before declining again. According to NHAR, there were a total of 11,620 units sold in 2023, a 33.8 percent decline from a total of 17,555 units five years earlier. Rising mortgage interest rates have likely deterred individuals and families from selling their homes, and in turn, have led to declines in housing inventory and increases in prices. The construction of new homes also affects the amount of available inventory. The total number of housing permits issued has increased every year except two between 2011 and 2022, according to the most recent available data from the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs. Permits for single-family houses slightly declined from 2,536 in 2021 to 2,495 in 2022, but the total number of units permitted, including multi-family housing construction, increased by an estimated 5,726 in 2022.
Rising Costs for Renters
The rise in housing prices has increased costs for Granite State families who rent their homes. As of 2023, the median monthly rent and utilities cost for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,764. Using a simple but reliable measure, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has historically defined families paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing as “cost burdened.” Renters with incomes less than $35,000, or 33 percent of total renters across the state, are more likely to be cost burdened than renters overall in New Hampshire. According to U.S. Census Bureau data collected from 2018 to 2022, nearly half of New Hampshire renters are cost burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income towards rent and utilities. Among Granite State renters who make less than $35,000 a year, slightly more than a half (51 percent) put more than 50 percent of their income towards rent and utilities. A quarter (25 percent) paid between 30 to 50 percent of their income towards housing costs, while only 16 percent paid less than 30 percent of their household income. Furthermore, eight percent of renters did not have calculated cost burdens due to there being an insufficient number of sample estimates. Increased rental costs leave diminished income for other necessary expenses, such as child care and health care services, and can negatively impact New Hampshire’s economy.
New Hampshire’s median household income and average wages have not kept up with rising housing costs across the state. According to the most recent data, the median household income in New Hampshire was about $90,000 in 2022, which was an increase of 20 percent from the median household income of about $75,000 in 2018. The median price of a single family house grew faster during this time period, from $283,000 in 2018 to $440,000 in 2022, a 55.5 percent increase. Wages have also not grown as quickly as housing prices have, likely making homeownership less achievable for individuals and families, particularly those with low and moderate incomes. From 2018 to 2023, the average private-sector hourly wage in New Hampshire grew by 28.7 percent, while the median monthly cost of rent and utilities for a two-bedroom apartment increased 36.1 percent. Although benchmark rental prices did not substantially outpace median household income or average wage growth between 2018 and 2022, individuals and families who rent their homes typically earn significantly lower incomes compared to homeowners in the state. As of 2022, the median household income for renters was about $56,000 while homeowner median income was approximately $108,000. Although rental prices may be affordable for households with higher-incomes making statewide median household income or more, nearly half of renter-households are cost burdened by rent and utilities.
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Rising rental prices may have some association with increases in homelessness. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a $100 per month increase in median rent was associated with a nine percent increase in the estimated rate of homelessness nationally during the 2012 to 2018 period. Point-in-time estimates, which are typically the most reliable measures for counting the number of individuals experiencing homelessness who are both sheltered and unsheltered, suggest that the number in the state increased from 1,605 to 2,441, or by about 52 percent, between 2022 and 2023; this increase is much larger than the 7.6 percent increase between 2021 and 2022.
Policy Actions and Implications
Recent COVID-19-related federal and State investments in housing have provided economic and financial relief for the thousands of Granite Staters who have been impacted by rising housing costs. As of December 2023, the State’s federally-funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program supported a total of 31,464 renters, providing an average of $10,542 to each approved applicant for rent, utilities, and other eligible household expenses. As of April 2024, the companion Homeowner Assistance Fund has provided $39.2 million to 3,212 homeowners to assist with mortgage, insurance, and property tax payments. In addition, the State’s InvestNH initiative, funded with $100 million of the flexible funds provided to the State from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and another $10 million in State funds, has provided capital grants to developers building multi-family residential units, support for the State’s Affordable Housing Fund, and grants to municipalities to incentivize the permitting of multifamily rental units, help update zoning rules, and aid in demolition of vacant or dilapidated buildings. The current State Budget also provided $25 million directly to the Affordable Housing Fund, $10 million for homelessness and housing shelter programs, and about $5 million for the Housing Champions Program to incentivize municipalities to make infrastructure upgrades to support workforce housing.
Despite these programs’ beneficial impacts, most of the federal funding associated with COVID-19 response legislation has already expired or will have to be committed to its final purpose soon. Further investments, such as increasing the construction of multi-unit houses and continuing to consider reforms to zoning laws to allow more housing density, could help boost the supply of housing. Moreover, increasing access into the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and HCV Homeownership Programs may help lessen the burden of housing costs for New Hampshire renters with low incomes. Such efforts to expand access to affordable housing across the state support Granite State families, workers, and the overall economy.
Jessica Williams is a policy analyst at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit, independent policy research organization based in Concord and focused on the state budget, New Hampshire’s economy, and policies affecting Granite Staters, particularly those with low and moderate incomes.
Jessica Williams is a policy analyst at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit, independent policy research organization based in Concord and focused on the state budget, New Hampshire’s economy, and policies affecting Granite Staters, particularly those with low and moderate incomes.
