The number of approved housing permits in New Hampshire continues to increase – a positive sign as the state struggles with limited inventory.
According to New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority’s newest report, permitting for new homes have more than doubled since 2009, after they just about dried up during the Great Recession. That echoes the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs report from earlier this year that housing production in the state has reached its highest annual level in two decades.
A permit means a home has been approved for construction, but it could still take months or years to be completed — and it could never be built at all. Still, it can indicate where new housing is expected.
According to New Hampshire Housing, housing permits issued from 2020 to 2025 were mostly in the southern parts of the state, particularly on the Seacoast and around Nashua and Manchester. That’s more good news, given that Hillsborough, Rockingham, Merrimack and Strafford counties have the greatest needs for new units and some of the largest population centers and employment hubs in the state.
Still, the level of permits being given out is nowhere near the peak in housing construction the state saw in the mid-1980s. A real estate boom in the region led to rapid development, but permitting slowed down again when the economy weakened in the late 1980s.
New Hampshire Housing measures the permitting rate as permits per 1,000 New Hampshire residents: In 1986, the permitting rate was at a high of 17.9 permits per 1,000 residents. In 2025, it was 3.6.
“More progress is still needed, and particularly in the southern part of the state,” Rob Dapice, the executive director and CEO of New Hampshire Housing, said at the organization’s conference Wednesday.
New Hampshire Housing estimates the state needs over 40,000 new units by 2030 to address the current housing shortage in the state. That demand has pushed prices higher than many Granite Staters can afford.
The year-to-date median sales price for all kinds of homes – multi-family, single-family, etc. – was $510,000. A family would have to make about $161,000 to comfortably afford that price, according to the report. Currently, the median household income in the state is roughly $104,000.
