Rockingham Times

The rental market in New Hampshire is on fire, causing renters across the state to face increasing rental costs and vacancy shortages.

A New Hampshire Residential Rental Cost Survey Report says that the average rate of vacancy across the state is 1%, well below its balanced market vacancy rate of 5% and the national average of 7%, according to WMUR9.

“We’ve been below that sense of a balanced market throughout the last decade, and it’s been going down, frankly, then getting better,” Dean Christon, executive director of New Hampshire Housing, told WMUR9.

Ron Dupont, owner of Red Oak Apartment Homes, which has 1,800 rental units throughout the state, told WMUR9 that for every apartment he currently puts up for rent, he receives nearly 200 inquiries from prospective tenants.

“Someone is looking for an apartment. They probably have a tougher job in front of them than they’ve had in 36 years that I’ve been in the business,” Dupont told WMUR9.

In Rockingham County, the cost of rent has increased 26.6% in the past five years.

The New Hampshire Housing survey shows that median rent payment in Rockingham County for a two-bedroom unit is $1,672 and the average median across the state is $1,498.

“In the last five years, rents have gone up about 25%, and that is the largest increase in the last 20 years,” Christon told WMUR9.