The construction crews were busy in 2025. Across New Hampshire, foundations were poured, framing went up, and roofs were sealed on more than 5,800 housing units—the highest number since 2006. For an afternoon, driving through the southern tier, you might have thought the housing crisis was being solved.
It wasn’t. Not even close.
According to a new report from the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs, New Hampshire has built approximately 25,688 housing units since 2020. The number sounds substantial until you compare it to the target. A 2023 assessment from NH Housing determined the state needed 32,704 units during that same five-year period just to stay on track for its 2040 goal. The state met roughly 80% of its target. The gap—more than 7,000 homes—represents families who couldn’t find a place to live, workers who couldn’t move here for jobs, and seniors who couldn’t downsize in their own communities.
“We had a higher level this year, and I’m not meaning like thousands and thousands more, but it was higher this year than in the past 20 years,” said Heather Shank, director of the department’s Division of Planning and Community Development. The milestone is real. The context matters more.
The geography of this growth reveals an old story. Just over 20 towns and cities—home to nearly half the state’s population—built nearly two-thirds of the new housing. Dover, Londonderry, Manchester, Rochester, and Portsmouth issued the most building permits in 2024. The construction was concentrated in the Southern Tier and Seacoast, where infrastructure already exists and where demand is highest.
But some smaller communities punched above their weight. Lebanon and Portsmouth both produced significant numbers of units relative to their size. The North Country Council, Strafford Regional Planning Commission, and Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission all exceeded their local building goals, even as the state as a whole fell short.
The type of housing being built is shifting. Single-family permits accounted for only 36% of the total issued statewide in 2024, down from 46% in 2023. In Hillsborough, Rockingham, Strafford, Merrimack, and Grafton counties, the majority of permits were for multi-family housing. The change reflects both economic reality—land and construction costs make single-family homes increasingly unaffordable—and policy intervention.
The InvestNH program, which provides incentives for municipalities to streamline housing development, has contributed to this shift toward denser construction. The program represents a bet that New Hampshire’s housing future looks more like apartments and townhouses than the detached single-family homes that defined its past.
Whether that bet pays off depends on whether the pace accelerates. The state’s 2040 goal calls for 88,364 additional housing units between 2020 and 2040. At the current rate, New Hampshire will miss that target by tens of thousands of homes. The 20-year high in 2025 was not a breakthrough. It was a slightly better version of the same inadequate performance.
The consequences of this shortfall play out in the data New Hampshire residents already know by experience: rising prices, longer commutes, younger workers leaving for more affordable states, employers struggling to fill positions. The housing market is a lagging indicator. The decisions made—or not made—today will shape the state’s economy for decades.
For now, the construction continues at its modest pace. The cranes dot the skyline in Manchester and Portsmouth. The subdivisions creep outward from existing development. The 5,800 units built in 2025 represent progress in absolute terms. But progress is not the same as adequacy. New Hampshire is building more than it has in two decades. It is still not building enough.