The spring housing market in New Hampshire hasn’t unfolded as many had once hoped.

After last year’s encouraging rise in the number of homes for sale and a relative softening in prices across the state, some industry players were expecting the positive 2025 momentum to carry through into the spring 2026.

It hasn’t happened.

Through May, the number of closed single-family sales across the state were down nearly 8 percent compared to the same five-month period last year, according to data from The Warren Group, the real estate data analytics firm and publisher of The Registry Review.

The company’s data is sourced directly from deeds and mortgages filed at New Hampshire’s county registries of deeds, reflecting only closed, legal, arm’s length sales.

Meanwhile, the statewide median single-family price spiked 6.12 percent through May, to $520,000, setting some new monthly records along the way.

The sales picture was even bleaker for condos, which saw a year-to-date plunge in closed deals of 23.7 percent through May. Some good news on the condominium front: Year to date, the median sale price rose only 2.9 percent through May to $409,000, according to Warren Group data.

War Clouded Spring Market Launch

A number of real estate industry figures emphasize the housing market started off the year slow partly due to concerns over the economy and resurgent inflation tied to the launch of the Iran War in February.

Then again, others note that the housing market has recently picked up momentum in many areas of the state, particularly in the Seacoast and Lakes & Mountain regions, and that they anticipate the overall sales situation to keep improving moving forward.

Indeed, one broker, Adam Dow of the Dow Group-Keller Williams in Wolfeboro, told The Registry Review that his firm is currently experiencing its best performance by volume since 2022.

“We had a very slow start this year – and the whole state had a very slow start,” Dow said. “But people who were waiting [in early spring] are now back in the market. The numbers are starting to move again.”

Still, many agents are expressing frustration with lack of housing inventory and the fact that many potential sellers remain hesitant to put their homes on the market today.

“The overall message I’m hearing is that the market is robust but we’re not seeing as much inventory as we’d like to see,” said Josh Greenwald, owner of Greenwald Reality Group in Keene and 2026 president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.

Ultimately, the inventory problem is largely driven by a lack of new home construction in New Hampshire, Greenwald said.

But the housing shortage has been exasperated in recent years by potential sellers, some of them living in homes with super-low pre-Covid mortgage rates, unwilling to put their homes up for sale.

Hopes for Boomer Sellers Dashed

Last year’s welcome increase in sales suggested that some of those hesitant homeowners, many of them elder Baby Boomers, were finally opting to sell.

But this year’s numbers indicate that judgement may be premature.

“Many Boomers are just not moving,” said Greenway. “Someone’s got to get up and make a move at some point.”

There has been some positive inventory data of late.

The New Hampshire Association of Realtors reported that overall statewide new listings increased by 8 percent through May 31, compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of days that homes sit on the market and the monthly supply of homes for sale have been slowly inching up.

But those improvements are all coming off historically low levels.

Stephan Morrissey, an agent with the Virtual Realty Group, said his business, centered largely on Hillsborough County, has been holding relatively steady with only slight price increases so far this year.

The Warren Group’s data generally backs up that observation: Single-family home sales were down 2.15 percent through May in Hillsborough County – with the county median sales price increasing by a relatively modest 3.8 percent, to $535.000.

Morrissey attributed the less-than-vibrant Hillsborough County market to a shaky U.S. economy that’s making people, both buyers and sellers alike, nervous.

Buyers Balking at Higher House Prices

One effect of that nervousness: Buyers are balking at what they perceive to be unreasonable asking prices.

“If a seller is off the price point, even marginally so, then you’re not going to sell a home quickly,” said Morrissey.

He noted he handled one single-family home sale that initially attracted little interest from buyers.

But then the seller agreed to lower the asking price by $10,000 – and buyer interest immediately picked up.

“Ten thousand dollars made a difference,” said Morrissey.

Joannie McIntire, associate broker at Coldwell Banker-J Hampe Associates in Concord, said she’s seeing roughly the same thing in Merrimack County that Morrissey has observed in Hillsborough County: more cautious buyers.

She noted that one local home recently put up for sale at $399,000 initially attracted no offers – a lack of interest almost unheard of in recent years.

“I’m hearing the same from others: things are slowing down a bit,” she said. “I’m seeing quite a few price reductions.”

The Regional Picture

In general, single-family sales were down 7.67 percent through May in Merrimack County, as the median sale price rose a relatively modest 3.3 percent to $470,000, according to Warren Group data.

Across the state, single-family closed sales were down in eight of 10 counties through May.

Sullivan, Cheshire and Grafton counties saw the biggest closed-sales declines of 37.5 percent, 25.4 percent and 19.24 percent, respectively.

Statewide, the median single-family price through May were down in three of nine counties – with the median single-family sale price flat in Rockingham County, according to data.

McIntire and others agree there are definite market positives out there, including the rise in new listings that’s contributing to homes sitting a bit longer on the market.

“It’s giving people more choices,” she said of the recent new listings boost. “It’s also giving people more time to make choices.”

Dow of the Dow Group agreed.

“It’s a more healthy, stable market today,” he said.

“There are more choices out. It’s still a seller’s market. But the frenzy we saw during COVID is definitely over.”