NH’s Housing Affordability-Availability Report Card Ranking Won't Surprise Anyone

NEW HAMPSHIRE — The housing market in the Granite State gets a C-minus for affordability and availability, 41st out of 50 states, according to Realtor.com.

The online real estate platform assigned letter grades to tell potential homebuyers what markets are best for affordability and housing availability now and in the future, the latter based on an analysis of new construction permits and population. No state received an A+, and only one A and two A- final grades were assigned in the analysis of the housing markets in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The sprinkling of A’s “says a lot about how far we still have to go to make homeownership truly attainable,” the real estate platform said in a news release.

New Hampshire received an affordability score of 34 and a score of 52 for home building, resulting in the final grade of 43.

The median home value in New Hampshire is $572,784, but the median household income is $94,929.

South Carolina scored the highest of any state with a final grade of A, mostly due to its high home-building score. Iowa and Texas both got A- grades, with Iowa’s high marks stemming mainly from affordability while Texas owes its ranking to the pace of new housing construction.

States in the Midwest and South stand out as the most affordable regions, but Realtor.com said a few Southern states are sliding toward the bottom of the affordability range, although there are some exceptions. Overall, B grades, including B+ and B-, were concentrated in these regions.

B grades were distributed exclusively to states in the South and Midwest, where construction activity and stronger affordability scores are concentrated

D’s and F’s went only to Western and Northeastern states. Affordability remains a major challenge on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and in states like Montana, which are seeing a major influx of migration from more expensive coastal markets, the platform said.