By Ross Ketschke
December 5, 2024
Source: WMUR9
Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things in the United States, including where people decided to live.
New data show that during the height of the pandemic, thousands of people relocated to New Hampshire.
The data from the IRS were compiled by News 9's partners at Hearst Newspapers. It shows net migration changes from 2020 to 2022, where people are moving to and where they're leaving.
In the two-year stretch of the pandemic, every New Hampshire county saw a net increase of people moving in. Statewide, more than 16,000 people relocated to the Granite State, with nearly 4,000 moving to Rockingham County alone.
Josh Reap, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors, said the influx has placed unprecedented demand on the housing market.
"During COVID, all those moving trucks are moving out of states like Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, they had to go somewhere, and they came here because we are the number one state for economic opportunity," Reap said.
As of October, New Hampshire's median home price was up more than $200,000 from the same time in 2019, just before the start of the pandemic.
For first-time homebuyers, competing in some bidding wars just isn't possible.
"I would hear, like, 'Oh we already have this many offers, this many are all cash, this many are $20,000 over the asking price,' so there are some I would have put an offer on that I didn't even bother...," said first-time homebuyer Isabella Dionne.
Reap said there has been some progress in addressing housing challenges, including efforts to update zoning to allow for more building density.
"By not allowing more housing to be built, you are putting more strain on the housing market, and someone with more money is going to buy a house your kid was going to buy anyway," Reap said. " The good thing is, we have the ability to control that change by having a conversation and taking a look at hard facts about how we are going to build."
Other smaller New England states also saw net growth, while big metro areas, such as Boston and New York, saw a combined hundreds of thousands of people move away.
The influx of people means a growing economy in New Hampshire, but it also means there are bigger needs for housing and other resources. In the wake of the pandemic, the state estimates it will need nearly 90,000 new units of housing to meet demand in the next 15 years.
Have you taken the vaccine? Were you mandated to? By whom?
Share the wealth of health with your friends and family by sharing this article with 3 people today.
If this article was helpful to you, donate to the Shidonna Raven Garden and Cook E-Magazine Today. Thank you in advance.
Opmerkingen