Don’t be offended, New Hampshire.

The Granite State didn’t make Realtor.com’s Top Housing Markets 2026 list – though four comparable New England real estate markets did – New Hampshire is still one of the strongest performing housing markets in the U.S.

It’s an exceptionally strong market heading into the new year, even if it’s not big enough in terms of population to qualify for Realtor.com’s top-market consideration, local real estate experts said.

“New Hampshire is viewed across the nation as a very desirable market,” said Paul Cervone, a Realtor and relocation specialist at Lamacchia Realty’s Woburn office. “It’s most definitely a top market. It’s just not that big of a market.”

Realtor.com’s most recent annual look-ahead rankings of top housing markets have raised more than a few eyebrows in recent weeks, both nationally and locally.

Instead of usual-suspect Southern and Southwestern metro markets coming out on top – trendy housing markets such as those in Texas, Florida and other Sunbelt states – this year’s Realtor.com list surprised most everyone by including nine Northeast and Midwest metro markets in its top 10 list for 2026.

At the very top of Realtor.com’s list for 2026 is none other than Hartford, Conn., followed closely by three other New England metro-area markets: Worcester, Mass. (No. 3), Providence, R.I. (No. 5), and New Haven, Conn. (No. 9).

How did so many old and banged-up post-industrial Northeast and Midwest markets suddenly end up becoming the nation’s top projected real estate markets heading into 2026?

Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com, said his organization’s rankings obviously rely heavily on home sales and sale-price data. But Realtor.com also takes into consideration metro markets’ jobless rates, GDP growth, housing inventory, home construction and other factors.

Current inventory levels – either too high or too low – are wreaking havoc, so to speak, with housing-market rankings in the U.S., Berner said.

Why Not NH?

Realtor.com only looked at the 100 most populated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. – and New Hampshire, in MSA whole or in parts, simply didn’t make the rankings cut.

The state’s largest MSA – Manchester-Nashua – is the 124th largest in the county, Berner noted.

Meanwhile, Rockingham (which includes Portsmouth) and Strafford counties are considered part of the official Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Because of those MSA numbers and definitions, Realtor.com didn’t analyze the numbers for most of New Hampshire.

But if one looks at median housing price data for the Hartford, Worcester, Providence and New Haven MSAs, New Hampshire as a whole ranks in the middle of the New England price pack with a median home price of about $510,000, according to recent data from The Warren Group, publisher of The Registry Review.

In addition, New Hampshire and its urban areas share many of the same market characteristics that propelled Hartford, Worcester, Providence and New Haven onto Realtor.com’s 2026 list.

Those characteristics include low housing inventory, high demand, a strong influx of buyers from other regions, and a strong economy in general.

Adam Dow, chief executive of New Hampshire’s Dow Group at Keller Williams, said the Granite State as whole is “absolutely” one of the top housing markets in the nation – and will remain so in 2026.

“It ranks very high,” he said, noting the strong influx of out-of-state people who want to buy homes in New Hampshire, particularly residents from Massachusetts.

“I don’t see how the New Hampshire real estate market can’t continue to grow,” Dow said.

Chris Masiello, chairman of the Masiello Group, which has 26 real estate offices and 700 workers in New Hampshire, agreed that New Hampshire has emerged as an attractive real estate market for people across the country.

He noted the state’s low taxes, strong economy, scenic beauty, overall excellent schools and its relative affordability compared to other states, particularly Massachusetts, where median home prices are now hovering around $640,000, according to Warren Group data.

“New Hampshire is a small state, but we’re a highly unique state in so many ways,” said Masiello. “It’s a very attractive market.”

Report Expands Beyond Sunbelt

Northeast and Midwest inventory is low amid strong demand, driving up prices. Meanwhile, most Sunbelt states have seen a steady rise in inventory over recent years, keeping median home-price increases somewhat in check.

“We’re seeing a real bifurcation across the country between places like the Northeast and Southwest,” Berner said. “Houses for sale are moving much quicker in the Northeast.”

And sale prices are moving quickly too. That’s not good for buyers, but it is good for sellers. And that’s ultimately why Northeast and Midwest housing markets are now rated so highly on Realtor.com’s top markets list for 2026.

In addition to strong seller-market dynamics at work in the Northeast and Midwest, many residents in larger cities are now moving to nearby smaller, regional markets in search of lower comparative housing costs.

And that big-to-smaller market shift is further increasing the demand for homes in spillover markets like Hartford, Worcester, Providence and New Haven, Berner said.

As a result of those and other factors, the Hartford metro area, which last year ranked 77th on Realtor.com’s top projected markets list, jumped to first place this year.

Hartford’s sales are projected to grow this year by 7.6 percent while median single-family home prices are estimated to grow by about 9.5 percent, according to Realtor.com.

With a similar combination of low inventory and higher demand, Worcester, which ranked 79th on last year’s Realtor.com list, is projected to see sales growth of 12.6 percent and a median sale price increase of about 2.6 percent in 2026.

Meanwhile, the sales/sale-price percentage increases for Providence and New Haven are projected at 7.1/4.1 percent and 2.3/7.7 percent, respectively, according to Realtor.com.