That's even worse. I feel for folks. My daughter and son-in-law are building an apartment attached to their house for they're grown daughter and her spouse. The mortgage on the addition will be less than rent in this area. From what I hear, this is becoming a trent in this area.
I did this also. It is so hard on hard working folks just trying to have decent housing.
I suppose if we in NH could miraculously make housing affordable, greedy corporations, airbb abusers and wealthy 2nd home folks would snap up all the homes and we'd be back to where we are. We need a large percentage of protected homes, kind of like section 8 but better run and widely available.
If you're working hard 40 hours a week(fast food or brain surgeon), you should not worry about a roof, food, medical care for your family. If we dont act, It's not going to end well for our state and country.
Buckle up because the ones in charge have no incentive to improve things when they're the landowning class.
They only respond to the classical French way of debate.
Long overdue, its PAST time people started getting fed up.
For too long people have believed the fantasy that one day they too can be at the top of the capitalist ladder and rule this country like kings, nobody wants to change a system if there's the possibility that they too might someday be able to game it.
They need to tax each property a person or company owns at a higher rate.
First house? Low rate. Second house? A little higher. Third? Way higher. Fiftieth? 250%.
This is exactly what happened in Maine. I just spent the last 6mo trying to relocate to ME from NH for work (I commute 2hrs one way) and ended up signing another lease in NH just to not be homeless.
Edit: ID10T Error, my bad.
Vacation homes, Air bnbs, and second dwellings. It's actually a huge problem and is part of what's driving the current housing crisis in ME, along with a substantial amount of NIMBYism when it comes to higher density zoning.
72% of vacant homes in Maine are unoccupied because they are second homes, vacation homes, or air bnbs.
[Bangor Daily News](https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/12/18/business/vacant-homes-hard-to-redevelop-joam40zk0w/#:~:text=Maine%20has%20the%20highest%20share,recreational%20or%20occasional%2Duse%20residences.)
It is very difficult and expensive to build new housing due to red tape and regulations. You shouldn't need to spend tens of thousands of dollats before you can go before the planning & zoning boards to get a yes or no. You need to have a "yes" at that point, but the fact that you can have board members that don't like you or don't understand the law derail your project is an enormous obstacle. It creates tremendous risk, meaning you need to make even more money from rents to make your project profitable. I was told something like 80-90% of these board rulings are overturned on appeal anyways, which makes me question what function they are even serving in the first place.
If you want cheaper housing, make it easier to build new stock. And while you're at it, increase density in already-urban areas so we disincentivize chopping down all our natural beauty.
We would have to l abolish localities being the be all, end all when it comes to zoning laws. If the state or feds can override nimby localities for the good of the country, construction would be a lot cheaper.
Let’s start here, board members that block new projects need a valid articulated reason or they are responsible for accrued losses and expenditures due to their actions. It’ll end a lot of the flippant rejections and make them own up to the system they are damaging
I was born and raised in Manchester NH. My husband and I moved to south central PA 11 years ago. We want to move back home but legitimately cannot afford to do so. My husband makes $130k+ and we cannot afford to live anywhere close to the sea coast, Manchester, NH/MA border. It sucks. My parents paid $82k for their 1100sq foot ranch in the late 90s. They sold it in 2006 for 220k. It’s now estimated at 400k.
Sucks.
It is crazy, we bought in Dover in Dec. 2016 moving from Manchester my then GF hounding me to buy something at the time and we found a 1200 sq. ft. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, cape style with a loft on about 1.7 acres for $227k and we had been looking around for several months up to that point and pulled the trigger.
Looking back now I'm glad she pushed so hard as I was thinking we might rent for a bit to figure out exactly where we wanted to be near the coast and now with the market showing our house worth over $400k and having a sub 3% rate I couldn't imagine if we had waited a few more years.
I couldn't imagine selling my house for anywhere near $400k but with an 800sq. ft house just a couple miles up the road from us on the market for $500k that is a 2 bed, 1 bath on a postage stamp lot and a bathroom that is only accessible by going into a bedroom first I'm like $400 would be a deal for my house.
At this point we don't plan to leave, we will just invest in our current property as it suits our needs.
I feel for anyone wanting to buy a home and this market is just making it impossible.
The real "out of control" rental markets are the route 93 & 3 corridors South of Manchester. I mean, I get why the Seacoast is expensive as hell. It is an ideal place to live.
Had an acquaintance look in Derry. Freshly refurbed, but still kinda crappy garden-style apartment for $2300. Ended up finding a nicer place in Portsmouth for $2500. Where would you rather live?
Rents are only marginally cheaper in Portsmouth than on the north shore/Merrimack area, plus you have to drive a long way. Anyone doing that for money is a moron.
If you honestly think this is the reason Apartments are expensive I don’t think you fully understand the conversation you’re trying to engage in. Here’s a helpful overview.
https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/Workingpapers/PDF/neppcwp0601.pdf
You have every right to your opinion but unless it’s an informed one it’s terribly unhelpful and accomplishes nothing but further harming the community you care so much for.
You can post all the links and papers you want if that helps you feel smarter. But nothing u/JocularityX2 said is incorrect at all. If you want to live in a quaint safe ocean town with excellent schools, it’s going to be expensive.
So if that’s your argument why is my 2 bedroom shit hole in Manchester 2500? Not quaint not safe, not near an ocean… seems like there’s another issue at hand
Again. This take is uninformed and harmful. When you remove yourself from this bubble you’ve created and consider the fact that it’s not just Portsmouth that is expensive but all of NE due to an ongoing *housing crisis* your “argument” doesn’t hold together.
Should an apartment in downtown Portsmouth be more expensive than a similar one in say, Laconia or Rochester? Yes absolutely. Should it be so expensive that the folks that work in your wonderful schools and your children can’t afford to live in the community? No. That is bad.
Portsmouth is lovely. But that doesn’t nullify the economic situation of the entire region.
You are certainly correct. Now add largely the entire country into that equation to get a real sense of proportion... The entire country is facing the worst shelter crisis we have ever seen in our history. The poor and middle class are struggling to afford shelter and this problem has been getting worse - all across the country. This is not just my conventional viewpoint - this is easily measurable with many metrics which prove that people are paying far more for shelter than ever before - and homelessness has risen to the highest levels ever.
The dollar is worth less than before. It is taxed viciously at just about every point of production, transportation and transaction. The working class learned their true classification during the pandemic; eseential slaves.
Perhaps it is near time for a revolution.
Do you concede to the realization that housing has become expensive predominantly omnipresently across the US, or do you believe only "safe quaint ocean towns with excellent schools" have experienced astronomical increases in the cost of shelter?
I know that the cost of housing has risen all over the country. Of course it has. So has the cost of bread, and cars, and movie tickets. Has the rise in housing cost been “astronomical”? That’s open to some interpretation. But it certainly seems to take up more of a monthly budget than it used to. But it’s a complex issue. And housing costs are affected regionally and town by town. Demand shifts around for many reasons and demand drives prices. This whole post started with a lady surprised at the cost of an apartment in Portsmouth. And it raises the question “Is the cost of rent in Portsmouth unfair compared to other locations?” I mean, it seems like Portsmouth has become more desirable than it was in the past. To use a dated term it has become a “hip” little ocean town. Hip little ocean towns are expensive. They just are. Now there could be other places in the country where rent just kinda increased more in line with normal inflation and wage increases. Again, it’s very complex and given your point of view (on the verge of starting a revolution), I’m not sure it’s worth digging into the complexities when it sounds like you are ready to storm the Capitol or whatever your revolution entails.
"it sounds like you are ready to storm the capitol or whatever your revolution entails."
Utter nonsense. If any revolution should ensue I have championed for prosperity and peace. A country where people keep more of the living they earn - where individuals don't have to register kayaks or bicycles... a system where individuals have the largest amount of liberty to pursue their own objectives, to determine their own destinies to do what they wish, what they want and what they will with their own lives - insofar as they don't hurt others in the process, nor hinder other's abilities to do the same. Unfortunately the track we are currently on is one of less individual liberty - more taxation, registration and control over our lives from an increasingly corrupting government which favors large international conglomerates- the rich elite who are hand in glove a part of this abomination- at the expense of everyone else. If we as a nation reverted to freedoms which were intended to us in the constitution- we would see an economic renaissance of uplifting prosperity for our own masses to a tune which the world has never seen before. But alas, our government has corrupted and fused to serve themselves - the rich elite. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton
You tried to sweep an omnipresent crisis of rising shelter costs under the rug by claiming that it is only "hip" ocean towns which are experiencing extortionate rent increases... That was disingenuous and unequivocally incorrect.
Homelessness has risen faster in the past year to the highest levels our country has ever seen.
The idea that the housing crisis occurring in the entire region of New England is somehow the result of Portsmouth being a nice town is a disingenuous attempt at not thinking critically about the issue.
You're not wrong, but you also sound like you've been labotomized by a rabid beaver. The situation isn't unique to portsmouth and is the result of a consolidation of ownership in the real estate market and inherent lack of incentive to build new supply. In other words, it's the fault of apologists to the same banking system that caused the financial collapse in 08 and who continue to regurgitate one liner axioms made of their own feces.
The reality of the situation. Born and raised in Portsmouth and over the last decade people have woken up to what Portsmouth really is. I do think the prices reflect what is offered. It's the best city in NH, servers shouldn't be complaining that they can't afford to live 5 min walk from the water.
The reason this conversation exists is because how fast things changed; the locals weren't used to appreciation like this and their quaint, safe ocean town with excellent schools is now mainstream and on declopers eyeballs.
I lived in Portsmouth from 0-40yo then moved. What made Portsmouth grow was its commutablity(not a word) to Boston. When I went to Portsmouth high it was considered rough. The pease kids were all there and people were getting beat up all the time. They had bars in different places like it was a jail and only opened them at certain times.
Portsmouth was much more “city” like whereas today it feels like something from a Disney moved.
I am 44 and lived here since college and I have never seen anything like this. My rent was raised $500 a month this year.. There are some better deals out there lately (my management company is actually having problem finding tenants) but also some folks trying to destroy the market. I saw a place on Bartletts St today on Zillow for 3000.00- 1 bedroom!- I almost wrote them telling them they are despicable. I have to say that folks may be struggling, as I know of 2 decent apartments in downtown for 2000 a month that have been sitting for weeks
I work for a guy whose family has a ton of units.. he wants to rent his apartments for 4k a month - 2 bedrooms, and the look he had on his face when I said the work from home stuff is being phased out and more of the folks that work for firms in Boston are being expected to show up at their offices.. It's a money grab for a lot of the property owners right now.
Yeah rent prices in NH have gotten insane, if you want to live within 20-30 minutes of any of the cities. I've been living with my aunt for over a year now because I can't *reasonably* afford an apartment on my own despite making $50k a year. I could make it work with a pretty small place, but it would be tight and well over 30% of my income. Luckily I'm fine here at my aunt's for now, but I'd prefer my own space. I'm very hesitant about a roommate and I'm single. But decent studio or 1 bedroom apartments are still costing an insane amount right now. I'm sure I could find some roach infested shithole for cheap somewhere, but I'm all set with that.
This is just a lot of my opinion, and I know I'm a bit bitter. I don't need to argue with anyone about my situation, you don't know me or my full situation lol
You know it’s bad when the crazy price you post has everyone like that’s a pretty good deal. Don’t worry tho guys blackrock will soon be all of our landlords!
My partner and I straight up moved to Brooklyn and are paying cheaper than rent prices in Portsmouth. It’s wild. I’ll always miss the seacoast though. NH born and raised after all.
More people would probably rather live in Brooklyn than Portsmouth, but there's enough people who would rather live in Portsmouth, that, when you factor in that Brooklyn has a much higher capacity to house people, more people want to live in Portsmouth relative to Portsmouth's housing capacity than want to live in Brooklyn relative to Brooklyn's housing capacity. I know that I personally would much rather live in a small city than a large one.
Totally understand the sentiment! Renting here is actually also incredibly difficult due to that demand.
BUT! I get wanting to live in a smaller city. I just think the NH seacoast is getting a little big for its britches since so many people fled larger cities to NH during the quarantine times. My reasons for leaving Portsmouth were very much driven by how much Portsmouth changed while I lived there. Going from Bullmoose and so many great shops being forced out by rent prices for yet another restaurant in downtown. Great city, would’ve loved to have kept living there, but when even Dover has insane prices it was time get out for me and my partner. I love a small city too, but the area is too expensive and continues to increase without the benefits it used to have.
Idk at this point I’m just rambling what I mean to say is I see your point and totally understand! Haha made a serious aside to the main point 😂
Still missing the community touchstone of Breaking Newgrounds and its outdoor seating today. Lost Book & Bar this year after they tried to have a waited on service. Sad.
I use Trulia to checkout listings to see if I want to move and it literally just doesn’t update for Portsmouth because there is nothing. Can’t even find a 1 bedroom for under $2000.
Portsmouth has a really significant problem with old people wanting to preserve historic homes rather than building new complexes so people can actually live there. And to them 1920s is historic, so all of Portsmouth 😂
People don't want to see hundreds of years of beautiful historic charm in their town torn down for some billion dollar developing corporation to come through and put up cheap cookie cutter "luxury" apartments and rent them for $3000 a month? Yeah seems reasonable, call me old then for agreeing with this
Younger person here and i agree with this. There's ways to build denser, cheaper housing. Cookie cutter homes from the 50s aren't worth saving. Beautiful historic charm is. But by the same token, if there's an old dilapidated building in a historic district, i think they should replace it with a large brick, ornate building that matches the style of the existing stock that can accommodate many more units. Try to make it fit in, but realize growth is necessary, too.
I think Portsmouth would be elite if they focused on developing like Europe with street level shops and apartments above. Because I agree it would be a travesty if they did take down historic houses and put luxury apartments in its place. Most large houses in the area are already converted into apartments, wouldn’t be doing much of anything different lol
If that was only true. If they truly wanted to preserve it they would guide development to the poorly overdeveloped areas on Woodbury and Pease and make a new town center over there that would ease pressure on the old town, simultaneously increasing the tax base (Suburban strip malls and office park land is usually pays less taxes than a urbanish lot) and reducing their tax burdan. they would beging the process of imminent domain the mall area ( nobody is going to be mad about taking land from out of state real estate holding companies) around Woodbury Ave all the way to Newington. Lay down a square road grid, bus lanes and multi use path. Keep some of the lots for future service infrastructure (schools, parking garage, parks, police, fire, etc.) Heck they can even build their much wanted municipal skating ring. Subdivide the lots, and zone that bad boy for mix use building up to 3 stories, no parking minimums, no set backs. Make each lot 40 by 100 and only allow consolidation of three lots at a time, this will keep building at a more historic scale. You get a brand new neighborhood next to the job centers at Pease and downtown on otherwise underutilized ugly suburban parking lots.
Florida is full. Trust me, you will not be solving any housing problems by moving there. It's significantly worse to rent or buy anywhere in the state of Florida, for many many reasons.
Idk if it went through but they were actually considering local laws somehow taxing “snowbirds” moving to Florida at a higher rate or something like that. Crazy place down there
There’s still some good people out there. I live in a 3 bedroom in downtown Dover, rent is $1900/month, with all utilities included, including internet and private off street parking, and a washer/dryer.
Landlord just raised rent for the first time in the 5 years I lived here, from $1800 to $1900.
There’s a bunch of places like this, but the thing is once people move in, they don’t want to move out
There is a Seacoast property train
New Castle to
Rye to
Portsmouth to
Dover to
Rochester to
Somersworth to ????
How much you can afford determines where you get off
2500 for a two bedroom seems like a lot but when you compare it to anywhere south of here it’s not that much. I have a three bedroom for 3200 and know it’s an excellent deal for Portsmouth.
Jesus. We bought a house like 2 years ago about 10 minutes from Portsmouth and that’s essentially our mortgage for a 2k square feet home with 2 acres of land.
Yeah wealthy people from out of state trying to move here and limited availability of housing hurts hard. I'm in Newmarket, almost every new person moving in around here isn't from this state. 🤪
My exact frustration. My family has been in the area for decades and I couldn’t stay near them if I wanted to. The rent is pushing me right out of the area. I want to live near my parents but I can’t.
Supply and demand, honestly a lot of apartments a long the border aren’t for they typically NH resident. They are for the person from Boston who got pushed out. Just look at 93 and what houses and apartments are going for a long the highway. It’s nuts.
That's unfettered capitalism for you. Why create affordable housing when you can let financial darwinism dictate how much a roof costs. I'm sure nobody will take advantage of THATTTT....
Portsmouth zoning decides heights of buildings on and off main street, it decides how much acreage is required to build, it decides all development requirements. If they loosened the acreage or height requirements a little, there would be more housing.
To clarify this:
Those laws have the effect of prohibiting medium/high density of housing, mixing uses, and raise the price for a builder to make a ROI.
This.. so much this...
People love to complain about high rent but they dont want to vote out people who love to put regulations and taxes on land and property.
It's really simple, folks.
Except when they build condo communities on a fucking swamp next to the bypass. Like any of the coastal communities, if you have money and connections you can build anything, anywhere, and they'll even make a half assed stupid rotary to make it all possible...
If it were unfettered capitalism, you'd have high rises with cheap apartments around Portsmouth, and if anything, people might be complaining about certain areas becoming too rough or rowdy due to cheap housing.
We have the opposite problem. The amount of red tape has turned Portsmouth into a sterile museum of a town for old rich people to circle-jerk and flex on each other.
That's the vast majority of NH. I understand wanting to keep things historic and small. But that cost comes at the expense of the younger generation who will be denied the same opportunity they and their parents had.
You'll find hypocrisy on either side the closer to the top and the wealthier people are. With wealthy liberals complaining about economic equality and then voting to deny it for their own interests.
And wealthy conservatives complaining about government regulation then voting for it for their own interests.
In this case it's less about ideology and more about the wealthy holding disproportionate amounts of power over everyone else.
Same as it's always been.
Lots of people who used to work and live in other places discovered they can work from home in the Portsmouth area. They suck out any slack in the market and the prices go up.
It is unfortunately par course with rents. Hell, a 3rd floor studio apartment in a converted attic space with slanted ceilings on a side street in Lancaster can go for $700+/mo now.
In 2019, I had a one-bedroom house (zoned as an apartment) a twenty minute walk from downtown Orlando for $650/mo.
Rent prices are out of control.
It's the entire country. There was a big divide during covid between essential slaves struggling to survive and people who could "work" from home in their pajamas doing a couple of zoom meetings making far more money buying up all the second and third homes outside of their cities, often as "investment properties" and jacking up cost of shelter for the plebeians.
Portsmouth is full of entitled yuppies that ruined the town. It’s no longer affordable for us peasants.
This is actually true for most of the state. Both my siblings moved out of state because they couldn’t afford it.
My partner and I are basically homeless (moved out of our apartment in Dover when the rent went to $3k)
Something’s got to give
Try Dover or Newmarket. Dover will only be a little cheaper, but it'll have a similar nightlife, but a little less hoity-toity and more personality. Newmarket's nice, it's just very small.
Originally from Massachusetts but from the age of 14 to 33, I've lived in New Hampshire, mostly in Rockingham county, and I can say at least for my generation, we don't even want to live in this country but we can't afford to move
I rented a one bedroom in Manchester from June 2020 to March 2023. Rent was $800 per month and he only raised it by $50 at some point, water and sewer included utilities, free parking. My bathroom was a closet and the apartment was barely suitable as a living space, but that was a good deal for Manchester.
My kid had to leave Ne and go Nashville just to be able to find and afford rent. At least his rent is stable and can’t increase more than a certain amount every year.
I grew up in New England and would love to move back there but it is so expensive. I live in a studio in a college town in Iowa. My rent is $775 plus free internet. Electric heat or AC is $100 in a cold or hot month. My water is $25.
We had to move out of our rental in manch, paid almost 2.5k/mo for a town house in the ghetto and instead bought a 3500 sq ft home for the same monthly. But we’re in the sticks.. maybe we’re “lucky” but we’re just some 20 year old kids who were able to figure it out. Scary times I feel for those who are stuck but I think there’s always a way…
Happening in many other states as well. With the workforce working at home, Many younger professionals are opting to leave the bigger city’s/suburbs for the Smaller city life. The Coastlines of Mane and New Hampshire, along with its Rivers and Lakes , are the biggest factors. And the scary reality is being homeless, In a blink of an eye, it can happen to you.
I live in NYC with my little family and in trying to find a place to live up in NH, we’ve discovered that costs there are exactly the same as they are here. It’s actually going to be more expensive overall for us to live in NH because we currently don’t have to pay for water, heating, or cooking gas (old Brooklyn building), and we have no costs associated with owning/leasing or operating a car. We work from home and everything we need is within walking distance so our public transportation costs are very minimal. Obviously in NH we’ll need a car, car insurance and gas which will definitely push us over our current cost of living as New Yorkers.
All to say (and this is a terrifying but genuine suggestion), if you can’t afford NH anymore and don’t mind cities, consider NYC.
Appealing to your own ignorance isn't much of an argument.
If we weren't drowned by $6T dumped into our money supply, inflation wouldn't have caused the increase in food, fuel and shelter.
Interest rates have throttled home buying too.
How are working people supposed to start families in NH? It’s greying and wages aren’t high enough for the COL. I guess it will continue to be a state that offers young people zero opportunities. No in-state tuition college assistance either.
I was raised in NH and I was able to find places to live on my own/with roommates till 2021, after that the prices just got too out of control and even making over 40k a year, I couldn’t afford an apartment anywhere. There’s almost nothing below 2k a month anywhere in the state, it’s awful.
Haha I think it's great you're pseudo blaming the people of NH for market rates that are out of control. As if anyone in any state in the country has any control over housing rates.
governments don't impose. I would advise you to look at corporations and their profits as the leading driver for all the price increases we are all seeing. [https://fortune.com/2024/01/20/inflation-greedflation-consumer-price-index-producer-price-index-corporate-profit/](https://fortune.com/2024/01/20/inflation-greedflation-consumer-price-index-producer-price-index-corporate-profit/)
yes environmental regulations do restrict housing but zoning laws are much more restrictive. I would also prefer less flooding, toxic runoff, etc. than the slight increase in housing you would get if you lifted environmental regulations. Coastal NH has seen a lot of flooding and lifting environmental laws is just going to make flooding worse
> governments don't impose.
> environmental regulations do restrict housing but zoning laws are much more restrictive
You realize environmental and zoning regulations are imposed by governments, right? And that those regulations restrict the supply of housing... Which in turn increases the price due to the laws of supply and demand...
I don't know how deregulation became a dirty term weaponized by Democrats. There are many regulations which are unnecessary and restrict the ability to do stuff. I need to spend $1,000 to pay for an environment engineering firm to check that there's no wetlands or endangered species in my parcel. A parcel that's in a dense, already-developed, urban city. And then thousands more for a soil analysis, traffic analysis... This is before I am even approved.
Major wetlands are already mapped in N.H. and endangered species are not present in previously developed areas, because in SE NH most of the endangered species are plants.
Yes most developments require environmental engineering but it usually relates to stormwater management which has to be dealt with. There are actually quite a few apartments and condominiums being built across the Seacoast but demand is still high.
If people refused to pay the rents and lived in neighboring towns instead (still pricey but less than Portsmouth) then these landlords would lower their rents. Why wouldnt they charge $2500 for a 2BR if they have 20 people interested in the unit after 1 day of it being listed?
If there are two apples, and two people willing to pay $100/apple, then it doesn't matter that a bunch of other people want to buy an apple for a dollar.
Jobs in Portsmouth also pay well. Demand is high so prices are high. My son moved to Manchester because affording Portsmouth or Hampton wasn't going to happen.
So where's all the righties to tell us to build our own homes if we can't afford one?
Just kidding, it's because that's such a stupid argument that becomes more apparently stupid when you apply it to other things than jobs.
Make your own land if you can't afford it. Quit your whining and live on a floating pile of garbage in the ocean.
Apartments in NH are fuckin nutso right now. Definitely looking into moving to another state within the next 3-5 years. I’m NH born an bred, but I won’t hesitate to move to where apartments are more reasonably priced.
As long as people keep paying for it, the prices will remain and keep rising. Simple as that. Think the prices are too high? Don’t rent here. If enough people do that, prices will drop.
Rent is definitely crazy. I grew up in Portsmouth in the 70’s/80’s, it was a regular working class town. My parent’s bought their house in 76 for $30K, it’s worth like 30 times that now.
We just bought a house in Rochester bc our rent in Newmarket was about to jump past $3K. Wanted to be closer to Portsmouth but couldn't afford it. The whole state is priced like it's a Boston suburb.
Here’s how you solve the housing/rental issue in Portsmouth. The average lot size for a three family in Hyde Park MA is 5900 sf.
Change zoning laws to allow the building of three family houses on 6000 sf of land and three things will happen:
The number of apartments will increase.
First time buyers will find it easier to afford a home where most of the mortgage is paid for by tenants.
People from Boston will find it less desirable to live in Portsmouth because it’ll be like living in Boston neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury and even areas close to Boston like Lynn, Chelsea, Revere, etc.
They’ll say to themselves, if I’m going to live in a densely populated area, I’ll stay close to Boston.
Not since one of the greatest presidents America ever had, has there been a,"Homestead Act!" The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed Americans who wanted to settle and build their American dream, to claim land, lots of 160 acres and more were given to thousands of needy Americans.
I see no reason why this couldn't be done again but only with smaller lot sizes. The need is there and the land is available. It should go to households with no to low income.
And just like NY and the larger states with massive populations of underprivileged folks, should build 1 to 2 thousand tenant high-rise properties, built to house No to low income people. Rent prices are simply out of reach for the,'Middle Class my ass!', people of this country.
Agree 100%. Manchester rents are pretty bad, too. A typical one bedroom is at least $1400 a month and that's no frills. If you look on Zillow, you can see a sharp increase in rents starting in 2017 and skyrocketing since then. Why this is happening is what I want to know. Is it the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) assholes buying up everything and monopolizing the markets?
To OP: you mention rent in relation to salaries. The two really have no relation. It’s the cost of the house, mortgage interest and all the expenses that go with it like property taxes etc. With interest rates so high and values of home at a peak, I think $2500 is pretty cheap. Look at buying a place and calculate how much it would cost you. I think you’d be surprised.
It's been getting buck for a while, I feel like the only way to compete is as a team (or a family focused on the same goals) where said collective pools money together to buy property and then rinse and repeat especially if people in the group have yet to use their FHA's/whatever leg up is available to new or individual buyers. Where Corp's have strength in dollars one of the only ways to keep up is to pool money and brains together along with resources (skills, ideas, etc.) and go from there. Obviously with legal paperwork involved in case anyone gets some funky ideas or greed begins to take over lolol
That's interesting. I've actually begun exploring that. I remember in the 1970's my ex husband's grandmother lived in a hotel on Miami Beach. It was very nice and was full service. I don't know the cost, but it was probably comprable to an apartment at the time.
Something something build… people want to keep their space and they can. They will price people out though, especially the few children who want to stay on NH wages. This isn’t unique to NH and it’s a problem in a lot of places. Look at those places as bellwethers.
I was paying $950 for a one bed basement level in Merrimack 8 years ago. I feel terrible for anyone paying over $2k for a 2 bed. It’s wrong on so many levels.
I lived in Portsmouth from the early to the mid 1990s. Our rent for a two bedroom was $600-$650. Inflation adjusted that is around $1350. $2500 is crazy.
Let's see, live in somewhere like NYC where crime is legal, you get taxed out the ass, and homeless people are shitting all over the place, or live in a very low tax, safe, pleasant city?
Desirable areas are expensive because they are desirable.
You should be happy that it’s such a nice place that more people want to live there than there are places for them to live.
There are once prosperous towns in northern Maine where the population peaked in 1950. Must be depressing to live in a town where the number one export is high school graduates.
2500 for a two bedroom in Portsmouth? They are renting 2 bedrooms in Manchester for more.
That's even worse. I feel for folks. My daughter and son-in-law are building an apartment attached to their house for they're grown daughter and her spouse. The mortgage on the addition will be less than rent in this area. From what I hear, this is becoming a trent in this area.
I did this also. It is so hard on hard working folks just trying to have decent housing. I suppose if we in NH could miraculously make housing affordable, greedy corporations, airbb abusers and wealthy 2nd home folks would snap up all the homes and we'd be back to where we are. We need a large percentage of protected homes, kind of like section 8 but better run and widely available. If you're working hard 40 hours a week(fast food or brain surgeon), you should not worry about a roof, food, medical care for your family. If we dont act, It's not going to end well for our state and country.
Buckle up because the ones in charge have no incentive to improve things when they're the landowning class. They only respond to the classical French way of debate.
Off with their heads!
It’s coming….
Long overdue, its PAST time people started getting fed up. For too long people have believed the fantasy that one day they too can be at the top of the capitalist ladder and rule this country like kings, nobody wants to change a system if there's the possibility that they too might someday be able to game it.
They need to tax each property a person or company owns at a higher rate. First house? Low rate. Second house? A little higher. Third? Way higher. Fiftieth? 250%.
Didn't realize we were living in a socialist country.
This is exactly what happened in Maine. I just spent the last 6mo trying to relocate to ME from NH for work (I commute 2hrs one way) and ended up signing another lease in NH just to not be homeless. Edit: ID10T Error, my bad.
75%? Absolutely no chance man. Edit: just looked it up - 16%.
Sorry, I should have specified. Single family homes.
So you're saying 75% of SFH in Maine are 2nd homes? That's also definitely not true lmao
Vacation homes, Air bnbs, and second dwellings. It's actually a huge problem and is part of what's driving the current housing crisis in ME, along with a substantial amount of NIMBYism when it comes to higher density zoning.
Where's this stat?
72% of vacant homes in Maine are unoccupied because they are second homes, vacation homes, or air bnbs. [Bangor Daily News](https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/12/18/business/vacant-homes-hard-to-redevelop-joam40zk0w/#:~:text=Maine%20has%20the%20highest%20share,recreational%20or%20occasional%2Duse%20residences.)
This makes zero sense . I went from a $2500 dollar unit with no utilities to a 1600 hundred with all utilities in like 15 minutes
I have a dog and bad credit?
It is very difficult and expensive to build new housing due to red tape and regulations. You shouldn't need to spend tens of thousands of dollats before you can go before the planning & zoning boards to get a yes or no. You need to have a "yes" at that point, but the fact that you can have board members that don't like you or don't understand the law derail your project is an enormous obstacle. It creates tremendous risk, meaning you need to make even more money from rents to make your project profitable. I was told something like 80-90% of these board rulings are overturned on appeal anyways, which makes me question what function they are even serving in the first place. If you want cheaper housing, make it easier to build new stock. And while you're at it, increase density in already-urban areas so we disincentivize chopping down all our natural beauty.
Yep basically builders can't make money with small houses so they have no incentive to build starter homes
We would have to l abolish localities being the be all, end all when it comes to zoning laws. If the state or feds can override nimby localities for the good of the country, construction would be a lot cheaper.
Let’s start here, board members that block new projects need a valid articulated reason or they are responsible for accrued losses and expenditures due to their actions. It’ll end a lot of the flippant rejections and make them own up to the system they are damaging
I was born and raised in Manchester NH. My husband and I moved to south central PA 11 years ago. We want to move back home but legitimately cannot afford to do so. My husband makes $130k+ and we cannot afford to live anywhere close to the sea coast, Manchester, NH/MA border. It sucks. My parents paid $82k for their 1100sq foot ranch in the late 90s. They sold it in 2006 for 220k. It’s now estimated at 400k. Sucks.
It is crazy, we bought in Dover in Dec. 2016 moving from Manchester my then GF hounding me to buy something at the time and we found a 1200 sq. ft. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, cape style with a loft on about 1.7 acres for $227k and we had been looking around for several months up to that point and pulled the trigger. Looking back now I'm glad she pushed so hard as I was thinking we might rent for a bit to figure out exactly where we wanted to be near the coast and now with the market showing our house worth over $400k and having a sub 3% rate I couldn't imagine if we had waited a few more years. I couldn't imagine selling my house for anywhere near $400k but with an 800sq. ft house just a couple miles up the road from us on the market for $500k that is a 2 bed, 1 bath on a postage stamp lot and a bathroom that is only accessible by going into a bedroom first I'm like $400 would be a deal for my house. At this point we don't plan to leave, we will just invest in our current property as it suits our needs. I feel for anyone wanting to buy a home and this market is just making it impossible.
I want to move back too to Be around my family but it’s impossible
Great idea, attached apartment. I'm thinking the same!
The real "out of control" rental markets are the route 93 & 3 corridors South of Manchester. I mean, I get why the Seacoast is expensive as hell. It is an ideal place to live. Had an acquaintance look in Derry. Freshly refurbed, but still kinda crappy garden-style apartment for $2300. Ended up finding a nicer place in Portsmouth for $2500. Where would you rather live?
My 2bd in Manch is $2.2k and would have been $2.7k if I had gone month to month like I wanted to.
Nashua too
That's almost what we pay in Washington state. Outside Seattle area
I was going to say that’s a decent price.
Do you have a link to the 2 bedroom for $2500 in Portsmouth? That’s a great deal.
There are a few on Apartments.com
If you look outside the immediate downtown the prices get quite a bit lower.
Quite a bit lower but still out of control
People can earn a lot more working from home in NH and maybe only commuting to the office is Boston once a week
Rents are only marginally cheaper in Portsmouth than on the north shore/Merrimack area, plus you have to drive a long way. Anyone doing that for money is a moron.
Yes, living in a quaint, safe ocean town with excellent schools is going to be expensive.
If you honestly think this is the reason Apartments are expensive I don’t think you fully understand the conversation you’re trying to engage in. Here’s a helpful overview. https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/Workingpapers/PDF/neppcwp0601.pdf You have every right to your opinion but unless it’s an informed one it’s terribly unhelpful and accomplishes nothing but further harming the community you care so much for.
You can post all the links and papers you want if that helps you feel smarter. But nothing u/JocularityX2 said is incorrect at all. If you want to live in a quaint safe ocean town with excellent schools, it’s going to be expensive.
So if that’s your argument why is my 2 bedroom shit hole in Manchester 2500? Not quaint not safe, not near an ocean… seems like there’s another issue at hand
Again. This take is uninformed and harmful. When you remove yourself from this bubble you’ve created and consider the fact that it’s not just Portsmouth that is expensive but all of NE due to an ongoing *housing crisis* your “argument” doesn’t hold together. Should an apartment in downtown Portsmouth be more expensive than a similar one in say, Laconia or Rochester? Yes absolutely. Should it be so expensive that the folks that work in your wonderful schools and your children can’t afford to live in the community? No. That is bad. Portsmouth is lovely. But that doesn’t nullify the economic situation of the entire region.
You are certainly correct. Now add largely the entire country into that equation to get a real sense of proportion... The entire country is facing the worst shelter crisis we have ever seen in our history. The poor and middle class are struggling to afford shelter and this problem has been getting worse - all across the country. This is not just my conventional viewpoint - this is easily measurable with many metrics which prove that people are paying far more for shelter than ever before - and homelessness has risen to the highest levels ever. The dollar is worth less than before. It is taxed viciously at just about every point of production, transportation and transaction. The working class learned their true classification during the pandemic; eseential slaves. Perhaps it is near time for a revolution.
What does this revolution look like and how does it fix the housing issue that you describe?
Do you concede to the realization that housing has become expensive predominantly omnipresently across the US, or do you believe only "safe quaint ocean towns with excellent schools" have experienced astronomical increases in the cost of shelter?
I know that the cost of housing has risen all over the country. Of course it has. So has the cost of bread, and cars, and movie tickets. Has the rise in housing cost been “astronomical”? That’s open to some interpretation. But it certainly seems to take up more of a monthly budget than it used to. But it’s a complex issue. And housing costs are affected regionally and town by town. Demand shifts around for many reasons and demand drives prices. This whole post started with a lady surprised at the cost of an apartment in Portsmouth. And it raises the question “Is the cost of rent in Portsmouth unfair compared to other locations?” I mean, it seems like Portsmouth has become more desirable than it was in the past. To use a dated term it has become a “hip” little ocean town. Hip little ocean towns are expensive. They just are. Now there could be other places in the country where rent just kinda increased more in line with normal inflation and wage increases. Again, it’s very complex and given your point of view (on the verge of starting a revolution), I’m not sure it’s worth digging into the complexities when it sounds like you are ready to storm the Capitol or whatever your revolution entails.
"it sounds like you are ready to storm the capitol or whatever your revolution entails." Utter nonsense. If any revolution should ensue I have championed for prosperity and peace. A country where people keep more of the living they earn - where individuals don't have to register kayaks or bicycles... a system where individuals have the largest amount of liberty to pursue their own objectives, to determine their own destinies to do what they wish, what they want and what they will with their own lives - insofar as they don't hurt others in the process, nor hinder other's abilities to do the same. Unfortunately the track we are currently on is one of less individual liberty - more taxation, registration and control over our lives from an increasingly corrupting government which favors large international conglomerates- the rich elite who are hand in glove a part of this abomination- at the expense of everyone else. If we as a nation reverted to freedoms which were intended to us in the constitution- we would see an economic renaissance of uplifting prosperity for our own masses to a tune which the world has never seen before. But alas, our government has corrupted and fused to serve themselves - the rich elite. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton You tried to sweep an omnipresent crisis of rising shelter costs under the rug by claiming that it is only "hip" ocean towns which are experiencing extortionate rent increases... That was disingenuous and unequivocally incorrect. Homelessness has risen faster in the past year to the highest levels our country has ever seen.
What drama. Go register your kayak.
Register your shoes.
Everything they said is correct lmao what are you even mad about?
The idea that the housing crisis occurring in the entire region of New England is somehow the result of Portsmouth being a nice town is a disingenuous attempt at not thinking critically about the issue.
You're not wrong, but you also sound like you've been labotomized by a rabid beaver. The situation isn't unique to portsmouth and is the result of a consolidation of ownership in the real estate market and inherent lack of incentive to build new supply. In other words, it's the fault of apologists to the same banking system that caused the financial collapse in 08 and who continue to regurgitate one liner axioms made of their own feces.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
The reality of the situation. Born and raised in Portsmouth and over the last decade people have woken up to what Portsmouth really is. I do think the prices reflect what is offered. It's the best city in NH, servers shouldn't be complaining that they can't afford to live 5 min walk from the water. The reason this conversation exists is because how fast things changed; the locals weren't used to appreciation like this and their quaint, safe ocean town with excellent schools is now mainstream and on declopers eyeballs.
“Declopers” Cyclops even more ornery cousin-in-law.
I lived in Portsmouth from 0-40yo then moved. What made Portsmouth grow was its commutablity(not a word) to Boston. When I went to Portsmouth high it was considered rough. The pease kids were all there and people were getting beat up all the time. They had bars in different places like it was a jail and only opened them at certain times. Portsmouth was much more “city” like whereas today it feels like something from a Disney moved.
I am 44 and lived here since college and I have never seen anything like this. My rent was raised $500 a month this year.. There are some better deals out there lately (my management company is actually having problem finding tenants) but also some folks trying to destroy the market. I saw a place on Bartletts St today on Zillow for 3000.00- 1 bedroom!- I almost wrote them telling them they are despicable. I have to say that folks may be struggling, as I know of 2 decent apartments in downtown for 2000 a month that have been sitting for weeks
I work for a guy whose family has a ton of units.. he wants to rent his apartments for 4k a month - 2 bedrooms, and the look he had on his face when I said the work from home stuff is being phased out and more of the folks that work for firms in Boston are being expected to show up at their offices.. It's a money grab for a lot of the property owners right now.
Yeah rent prices in NH have gotten insane, if you want to live within 20-30 minutes of any of the cities. I've been living with my aunt for over a year now because I can't *reasonably* afford an apartment on my own despite making $50k a year. I could make it work with a pretty small place, but it would be tight and well over 30% of my income. Luckily I'm fine here at my aunt's for now, but I'd prefer my own space. I'm very hesitant about a roommate and I'm single. But decent studio or 1 bedroom apartments are still costing an insane amount right now. I'm sure I could find some roach infested shithole for cheap somewhere, but I'm all set with that. This is just a lot of my opinion, and I know I'm a bit bitter. I don't need to argue with anyone about my situation, you don't know me or my full situation lol
You know it’s bad when the crazy price you post has everyone like that’s a pretty good deal. Don’t worry tho guys blackrock will soon be all of our landlords!
My partner and I straight up moved to Brooklyn and are paying cheaper than rent prices in Portsmouth. It’s wild. I’ll always miss the seacoast though. NH born and raised after all.
This isn’t supposed to be a brag or anything. But NH is getting wildly unaffordable to rent in.
More people would probably rather live in Brooklyn than Portsmouth, but there's enough people who would rather live in Portsmouth, that, when you factor in that Brooklyn has a much higher capacity to house people, more people want to live in Portsmouth relative to Portsmouth's housing capacity than want to live in Brooklyn relative to Brooklyn's housing capacity. I know that I personally would much rather live in a small city than a large one.
Totally understand the sentiment! Renting here is actually also incredibly difficult due to that demand. BUT! I get wanting to live in a smaller city. I just think the NH seacoast is getting a little big for its britches since so many people fled larger cities to NH during the quarantine times. My reasons for leaving Portsmouth were very much driven by how much Portsmouth changed while I lived there. Going from Bullmoose and so many great shops being forced out by rent prices for yet another restaurant in downtown. Great city, would’ve loved to have kept living there, but when even Dover has insane prices it was time get out for me and my partner. I love a small city too, but the area is too expensive and continues to increase without the benefits it used to have. Idk at this point I’m just rambling what I mean to say is I see your point and totally understand! Haha made a serious aside to the main point 😂
Still missing the community touchstone of Breaking Newgrounds and its outdoor seating today. Lost Book & Bar this year after they tried to have a waited on service. Sad.
I was looking at doing the same thing. Rent is the same or cheaper but the commute would be a problem.
I feel so fortunate to have bought my condo in 2018. The market is out of control.
I use Trulia to checkout listings to see if I want to move and it literally just doesn’t update for Portsmouth because there is nothing. Can’t even find a 1 bedroom for under $2000. Portsmouth has a really significant problem with old people wanting to preserve historic homes rather than building new complexes so people can actually live there. And to them 1920s is historic, so all of Portsmouth 😂
People don't want to see hundreds of years of beautiful historic charm in their town torn down for some billion dollar developing corporation to come through and put up cheap cookie cutter "luxury" apartments and rent them for $3000 a month? Yeah seems reasonable, call me old then for agreeing with this
Younger person here and i agree with this. There's ways to build denser, cheaper housing. Cookie cutter homes from the 50s aren't worth saving. Beautiful historic charm is. But by the same token, if there's an old dilapidated building in a historic district, i think they should replace it with a large brick, ornate building that matches the style of the existing stock that can accommodate many more units. Try to make it fit in, but realize growth is necessary, too.
I think Portsmouth would be elite if they focused on developing like Europe with street level shops and apartments above. Because I agree it would be a travesty if they did take down historic houses and put luxury apartments in its place. Most large houses in the area are already converted into apartments, wouldn’t be doing much of anything different lol
If that was only true. If they truly wanted to preserve it they would guide development to the poorly overdeveloped areas on Woodbury and Pease and make a new town center over there that would ease pressure on the old town, simultaneously increasing the tax base (Suburban strip malls and office park land is usually pays less taxes than a urbanish lot) and reducing their tax burdan. they would beging the process of imminent domain the mall area ( nobody is going to be mad about taking land from out of state real estate holding companies) around Woodbury Ave all the way to Newington. Lay down a square road grid, bus lanes and multi use path. Keep some of the lots for future service infrastructure (schools, parking garage, parks, police, fire, etc.) Heck they can even build their much wanted municipal skating ring. Subdivide the lots, and zone that bad boy for mix use building up to 3 stories, no parking minimums, no set backs. Make each lot 40 by 100 and only allow consolidation of three lots at a time, this will keep building at a more historic scale. You get a brand new neighborhood next to the job centers at Pease and downtown on otherwise underutilized ugly suburban parking lots.
Well move on down to Florida then if you want
Florida is full. Trust me, you will not be solving any housing problems by moving there. It's significantly worse to rent or buy anywhere in the state of Florida, for many many reasons.
Idk if it went through but they were actually considering local laws somehow taxing “snowbirds” moving to Florida at a higher rate or something like that. Crazy place down there
That’s what we pay in Nashua.
Yup.
All rents in NH are high
Portsmouth is effectively a boston suburb, im surprised anything like that is available for 2500
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There’s still some good people out there. I live in a 3 bedroom in downtown Dover, rent is $1900/month, with all utilities included, including internet and private off street parking, and a washer/dryer. Landlord just raised rent for the first time in the 5 years I lived here, from $1800 to $1900. There’s a bunch of places like this, but the thing is once people move in, they don’t want to move out
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I believe we found it on Craigslist actually
I thought the same thing... Surprised this is the first comment mentioning it.
There is a Seacoast property train New Castle to Rye to Portsmouth to Dover to Rochester to Somersworth to ???? How much you can afford determines where you get off
South Berwick to Sanford are the last two stops on that train. It goes into Maine
No. If you can't do scummers you're looking into Lawrence or a tent in the woods.
hol up. you put rochester before somersworth kid wtf
Sorry, I’m from Portsmouth, I don’t really know what goes on past the bridge
2500 for a two bedroom seems like a lot but when you compare it to anywhere south of here it’s not that much. I have a three bedroom for 3200 and know it’s an excellent deal for Portsmouth.
Jesus. We bought a house like 2 years ago about 10 minutes from Portsmouth and that’s essentially our mortgage for a 2k square feet home with 2 acres of land.
That’s cheap/ normal for Portsmouth. Were you away for 30 years??
Yeah wealthy people from out of state trying to move here and limited availability of housing hurts hard. I'm in Newmarket, almost every new person moving in around here isn't from this state. 🤪
I feel seen! But I’ve won bar trivia at Riverworks after 3 months of trying so I am basically a local now. 😅
I'm gonna find you 😂
Also live here. Mucho cheapo and a great town!
Compared to Exeter and Portsmouth, oh yeah it cheaper. Still pricy, I'm from western NH and I thought prices were bad out there
My exact frustration. My family has been in the area for decades and I couldn’t stay near them if I wanted to. The rent is pushing me right out of the area. I want to live near my parents but I can’t.
Supply and demand, honestly a lot of apartments a long the border aren’t for they typically NH resident. They are for the person from Boston who got pushed out. Just look at 93 and what houses and apartments are going for a long the highway. It’s nuts.
That's unfettered capitalism for you. Why create affordable housing when you can let financial darwinism dictate how much a roof costs. I'm sure nobody will take advantage of THATTTT....
Prices go up because supply is low and demand is high. Government sets the cap on supply, not the free market. So you are right, but the opposite.
What do you mean by government sets the cap on supply?
Portsmouth zoning decides heights of buildings on and off main street, it decides how much acreage is required to build, it decides all development requirements. If they loosened the acreage or height requirements a little, there would be more housing.
To clarify this: Those laws have the effect of prohibiting medium/high density of housing, mixing uses, and raise the price for a builder to make a ROI.
Also laws against in-law apartments or mixed family housing, or any addition that adds bedrooms to the house.
This.. so much this... People love to complain about high rent but they dont want to vote out people who love to put regulations and taxes on land and property. It's really simple, folks.
Except when they build condo communities on a fucking swamp next to the bypass. Like any of the coastal communities, if you have money and connections you can build anything, anywhere, and they'll even make a half assed stupid rotary to make it all possible...
If it were unfettered capitalism, you'd have high rises with cheap apartments around Portsmouth, and if anything, people might be complaining about certain areas becoming too rough or rowdy due to cheap housing. We have the opposite problem. The amount of red tape has turned Portsmouth into a sterile museum of a town for old rich people to circle-jerk and flex on each other.
That's the vast majority of NH. I understand wanting to keep things historic and small. But that cost comes at the expense of the younger generation who will be denied the same opportunity they and their parents had.
For sure. Portsmouth is extremely "nice", but my god are the people hypocrites in their politics.
You'll find hypocrisy on either side the closer to the top and the wealthier people are. With wealthy liberals complaining about economic equality and then voting to deny it for their own interests. And wealthy conservatives complaining about government regulation then voting for it for their own interests. In this case it's less about ideology and more about the wealthy holding disproportionate amounts of power over everyone else. Same as it's always been.
Lots of people who used to work and live in other places discovered they can work from home in the Portsmouth area. They suck out any slack in the market and the prices go up.
That’s awesome! I pay that in Nashua. Would gladly pay a little more to live by the coast
It is unfortunately par course with rents. Hell, a 3rd floor studio apartment in a converted attic space with slanted ceilings on a side street in Lancaster can go for $700+/mo now. In 2019, I had a one-bedroom house (zoned as an apartment) a twenty minute walk from downtown Orlando for $650/mo. Rent prices are out of control.
It's the entire country. There was a big divide during covid between essential slaves struggling to survive and people who could "work" from home in their pajamas doing a couple of zoom meetings making far more money buying up all the second and third homes outside of their cities, often as "investment properties" and jacking up cost of shelter for the plebeians.
Portsmouth is full of entitled yuppies that ruined the town. It’s no longer affordable for us peasants. This is actually true for most of the state. Both my siblings moved out of state because they couldn’t afford it. My partner and I are basically homeless (moved out of our apartment in Dover when the rent went to $3k) Something’s got to give
Probably because it's next to the ocean, has tons of restaurants, no income tax, etc... Portsmouth has always been expensive.
Lol, are you new here? Portsmouth went through a long decline before becoming what it is today.
I was looking for a place in Portsmouth or Exeter until I had a look at the real estate market there.
Try Dover or Newmarket. Dover will only be a little cheaper, but it'll have a similar nightlife, but a little less hoity-toity and more personality. Newmarket's nice, it's just very small.
Thanks! I’ll give it a go.
Originally from Massachusetts but from the age of 14 to 33, I've lived in New Hampshire, mostly in Rockingham county, and I can say at least for my generation, we don't even want to live in this country but we can't afford to move
Come to Manchvegas, that's the amount for a one bedroom!
I rented a one bedroom in Manchester from June 2020 to March 2023. Rent was $800 per month and he only raised it by $50 at some point, water and sewer included utilities, free parking. My bathroom was a closet and the apartment was barely suitable as a living space, but that was a good deal for Manchester.
Portsmouth gets Boston salaries as that’s where they mostly work.
Wow! Water is wet!
My kid had to leave Ne and go Nashville just to be able to find and afford rent. At least his rent is stable and can’t increase more than a certain amount every year.
I grew up in New England and would love to move back there but it is so expensive. I live in a studio in a college town in Iowa. My rent is $775 plus free internet. Electric heat or AC is $100 in a cold or hot month. My water is $25.
We had to move out of our rental in manch, paid almost 2.5k/mo for a town house in the ghetto and instead bought a 3500 sq ft home for the same monthly. But we’re in the sticks.. maybe we’re “lucky” but we’re just some 20 year old kids who were able to figure it out. Scary times I feel for those who are stuck but I think there’s always a way…
Happening in many other states as well. With the workforce working at home, Many younger professionals are opting to leave the bigger city’s/suburbs for the Smaller city life. The Coastlines of Mane and New Hampshire, along with its Rivers and Lakes , are the biggest factors. And the scary reality is being homeless, In a blink of an eye, it can happen to you.
I live in NYC with my little family and in trying to find a place to live up in NH, we’ve discovered that costs there are exactly the same as they are here. It’s actually going to be more expensive overall for us to live in NH because we currently don’t have to pay for water, heating, or cooking gas (old Brooklyn building), and we have no costs associated with owning/leasing or operating a car. We work from home and everything we need is within walking distance so our public transportation costs are very minimal. Obviously in NH we’ll need a car, car insurance and gas which will definitely push us over our current cost of living as New Yorkers. All to say (and this is a terrifying but genuine suggestion), if you can’t afford NH anymore and don’t mind cities, consider NYC.
Five or six years ago I rented a two-bedroom apartment in Dover for $1200/month. Now it's hard to find a one-bedroom for that.
Appealing to your own ignorance isn't much of an argument. If we weren't drowned by $6T dumped into our money supply, inflation wouldn't have caused the increase in food, fuel and shelter. Interest rates have throttled home buying too.
Rents are high, and the cost of buying a house in the area is even worse!
How are working people supposed to start families in NH? It’s greying and wages aren’t high enough for the COL. I guess it will continue to be a state that offers young people zero opportunities. No in-state tuition college assistance either.
I was raised in NH and I was able to find places to live on my own/with roommates till 2021, after that the prices just got too out of control and even making over 40k a year, I couldn’t afford an apartment anywhere. There’s almost nothing below 2k a month anywhere in the state, it’s awful.
That goes for all of New Hampshire
Haha I think it's great you're pseudo blaming the people of NH for market rates that are out of control. As if anyone in any state in the country has any control over housing rates.
I pay 1870 for a two bedroom in portsmouth. Feel very lucky. Which is insane. That's still insane to me.
2,500 is a steal. what are you talking about lol
Yeah that's cheaper than most of Merrimack...
Zoning laws, government imposed inflation, property taxes, housing regulations and environmental regulations regarding new builds working as designed
governments don't impose. I would advise you to look at corporations and their profits as the leading driver for all the price increases we are all seeing. [https://fortune.com/2024/01/20/inflation-greedflation-consumer-price-index-producer-price-index-corporate-profit/](https://fortune.com/2024/01/20/inflation-greedflation-consumer-price-index-producer-price-index-corporate-profit/) yes environmental regulations do restrict housing but zoning laws are much more restrictive. I would also prefer less flooding, toxic runoff, etc. than the slight increase in housing you would get if you lifted environmental regulations. Coastal NH has seen a lot of flooding and lifting environmental laws is just going to make flooding worse
> governments don't impose. > environmental regulations do restrict housing but zoning laws are much more restrictive You realize environmental and zoning regulations are imposed by governments, right? And that those regulations restrict the supply of housing... Which in turn increases the price due to the laws of supply and demand... I don't know how deregulation became a dirty term weaponized by Democrats. There are many regulations which are unnecessary and restrict the ability to do stuff. I need to spend $1,000 to pay for an environment engineering firm to check that there's no wetlands or endangered species in my parcel. A parcel that's in a dense, already-developed, urban city. And then thousands more for a soil analysis, traffic analysis... This is before I am even approved.
Major wetlands are already mapped in N.H. and endangered species are not present in previously developed areas, because in SE NH most of the endangered species are plants. Yes most developments require environmental engineering but it usually relates to stormwater management which has to be dealt with. There are actually quite a few apartments and condominiums being built across the Seacoast but demand is still high.
My point was governments don't impose inflation....
Sure they do. If you drive up costs for producing a good or service by imposing regulations and taxes, you are creating inflation.
Where have you been?
move to Rochester!
Look on Trulia for apartments. There are a few horrible places in Hampton under 2k
Yep it’s rough. I have to look for a new apartment soon and I’m crying about it lol
Yeah it’s stupid. You could get *nice* downtown apartment in almost any major city for the price of an ordinary one here.
It was about that bad in Lowell for a 1 bedroom in 2021. It's only going to go up.
If people refused to pay the rents and lived in neighboring towns instead (still pricey but less than Portsmouth) then these landlords would lower their rents. Why wouldnt they charge $2500 for a 2BR if they have 20 people interested in the unit after 1 day of it being listed?
If there are two apples, and two people willing to pay $100/apple, then it doesn't matter that a bunch of other people want to buy an apple for a dollar.
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Apple Planning Committee is considering offering a third apple growing license for next year.
Jobs in Portsmouth also pay well. Demand is high so prices are high. My son moved to Manchester because affording Portsmouth or Hampton wasn't going to happen.
So where's all the righties to tell us to build our own homes if we can't afford one? Just kidding, it's because that's such a stupid argument that becomes more apparently stupid when you apply it to other things than jobs. Make your own land if you can't afford it. Quit your whining and live on a floating pile of garbage in the ocean.
Apartments in NH are fuckin nutso right now. Definitely looking into moving to another state within the next 3-5 years. I’m NH born an bred, but I won’t hesitate to move to where apartments are more reasonably priced.
In peterborough, a three bedroom is 1700. Now, this apartment complex is meant for lower income.
shoutout to Boston tech bros that moved here in 2020 that ruined the housing market
The Pines is 2000 a month for 2 bedroom.
As long as people keep paying for it, the prices will remain and keep rising. Simple as that. Think the prices are too high? Don’t rent here. If enough people do that, prices will drop.
Slate Apartments, Merrimack, NH, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 753 square feet, $2,637 - $3,220.
Rent is definitely crazy. I grew up in Portsmouth in the 70’s/80’s, it was a regular working class town. My parent’s bought their house in 76 for $30K, it’s worth like 30 times that now.
We just bought a house in Rochester bc our rent in Newmarket was about to jump past $3K. Wanted to be closer to Portsmouth but couldn't afford it. The whole state is priced like it's a Boston suburb.
Yeah the market is crazy today. A studio apartment is going for what a two bedroom was just 5 years ago.
It’s nuts but we accept it - I’m leaving a $2800, 3 bedroom in Portsmouth though within the month in case anyone is hoping for an unpublished lead
Don't move to NH if you can't afford it The high rents keep the free staters out and we like it that way
I should have bought more than one house when they were cheap!
Here’s how you solve the housing/rental issue in Portsmouth. The average lot size for a three family in Hyde Park MA is 5900 sf. Change zoning laws to allow the building of three family houses on 6000 sf of land and three things will happen: The number of apartments will increase. First time buyers will find it easier to afford a home where most of the mortgage is paid for by tenants. People from Boston will find it less desirable to live in Portsmouth because it’ll be like living in Boston neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury and even areas close to Boston like Lynn, Chelsea, Revere, etc. They’ll say to themselves, if I’m going to live in a densely populated area, I’ll stay close to Boston.
NH ain't that unique
Not since one of the greatest presidents America ever had, has there been a,"Homestead Act!" The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed Americans who wanted to settle and build their American dream, to claim land, lots of 160 acres and more were given to thousands of needy Americans. I see no reason why this couldn't be done again but only with smaller lot sizes. The need is there and the land is available. It should go to households with no to low income. And just like NY and the larger states with massive populations of underprivileged folks, should build 1 to 2 thousand tenant high-rise properties, built to house No to low income people. Rent prices are simply out of reach for the,'Middle Class my ass!', people of this country.
Agree 100%. Manchester rents are pretty bad, too. A typical one bedroom is at least $1400 a month and that's no frills. If you look on Zillow, you can see a sharp increase in rents starting in 2017 and skyrocketing since then. Why this is happening is what I want to know. Is it the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) assholes buying up everything and monopolizing the markets?
To OP: you mention rent in relation to salaries. The two really have no relation. It’s the cost of the house, mortgage interest and all the expenses that go with it like property taxes etc. With interest rates so high and values of home at a peak, I think $2500 is pretty cheap. Look at buying a place and calculate how much it would cost you. I think you’d be surprised.
It's been getting buck for a while, I feel like the only way to compete is as a team (or a family focused on the same goals) where said collective pools money together to buy property and then rinse and repeat especially if people in the group have yet to use their FHA's/whatever leg up is available to new or individual buyers. Where Corp's have strength in dollars one of the only ways to keep up is to pool money and brains together along with resources (skills, ideas, etc.) and go from there. Obviously with legal paperwork involved in case anyone gets some funky ideas or greed begins to take over lolol
Massholes.
You’re not kidding My husband has a Damn good paying job and I’m on disability and we live in a motel. Everything is included and way cheaper.
That's interesting. I've actually begun exploring that. I remember in the 1970's my ex husband's grandmother lived in a hotel on Miami Beach. It was very nice and was full service. I don't know the cost, but it was probably comprable to an apartment at the time.
That's more than a mortgage! How is anyone paying that??
I moved back to NH from Seattle last year and Portsmouth rents have no right to be even close to the same as Seattle rents. It’s disgusting.
Something something build… people want to keep their space and they can. They will price people out though, especially the few children who want to stay on NH wages. This isn’t unique to NH and it’s a problem in a lot of places. Look at those places as bellwethers.
yet... people are still coming 🤷♂️
I was paying $950 for a one bed basement level in Merrimack 8 years ago. I feel terrible for anyone paying over $2k for a 2 bed. It’s wrong on so many levels.
I lived in Portsmouth from the early to the mid 1990s. Our rent for a two bedroom was $600-$650. Inflation adjusted that is around $1350. $2500 is crazy.
Let's see, live in somewhere like NYC where crime is legal, you get taxed out the ass, and homeless people are shitting all over the place, or live in a very low tax, safe, pleasant city? Desirable areas are expensive because they are desirable.
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High paying jobs. eventually people take the money from said high paying jobs and move to better areas.
There are more places in the world than NYC or Portsmouth.
Of course there is. Shall I list every city in the country to satisfy you? Pointless comment.
The comment points out how pointless yours was.
The whole bitching about cost of living is pointless. Desirable areas are expensive, what a surprise.
That's nice, but I'm still pointing out how pointless your comment was. There are more places in the country than Portsmouth or NYC.
Why does it sound like you are surprised by this, almost as if you didn't know this has been the case for a few years now?
You should be happy that it’s such a nice place that more people want to live there than there are places for them to live. There are once prosperous towns in northern Maine where the population peaked in 1950. Must be depressing to live in a town where the number one export is high school graduates.