By Bob Sanders
New Hampshire Business Review, 4/10/08
The price of homes in New Hampshire may be slipping, but the cost of New Hampshire rents is going through the roof, according to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The cost of rentals in New Hampshire increased 16.3 percent in the last year -- the sharpest year-to-year increase in the nation for any non-metropolitan area in the country, according to the report, which was based on federal Housing and Urban Development statistics. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the state is now $1,012 -- 47 percent more than in 2000.
“We certainly haven’t seen wages go up 16 percent in the past year, or 47 percent in the past eight years,” said Maggie Fogarty, economic justice project coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in New Hampshire.
According to Fogarty, that doesn’t leave much of an alternative for those losing their homes through foreclosure. Indeed, those foreclosures might be driving up the rental market by creating more demand, she said, adding: “This is all related, all part of the housing crisis.”
According to the report, a single wage earner would have to make $19.45 an hour to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire. It would take three minimum wage jobs to earn that much money.
The mean average wage for the state is $13.73.
Rents are higher the closer you live near Massachusetts, the highest being in the Lawrence metropolitan area, which includes Salem (average rent: $1,144), which also saw the biggest increase -- a whopping 58.5 percent over the last eight years.
Farther north, average rents drop a bit to an average of $907 for a two-bedroom apartment. However, because wages are lower in those areas, the rents are even more out of reach for those who live there, and actually exceeding median renter income. Either way -- based on the recommendation that housing costs shouldn’t exceed 30 percent of income -- about half of New Hampshire’s renters are living in apartments that they can’t afford.
The cost of rentals in New Hampshire increased 16.3 percent in the last year -- the sharpest year-to-year increase in the nation for any non-metropolitan area in the country, according to the report, which was based on federal Housing and Urban Development statistics. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the state is now $1,012 -- 47 percent more than in 2000.
“We certainly haven’t seen wages go up 16 percent in the past year, or 47 percent in the past eight years,” said Maggie Fogarty, economic justice project coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in New Hampshire.
According to Fogarty, that doesn’t leave much of an alternative for those losing their homes through foreclosure. Indeed, those foreclosures might be driving up the rental market by creating more demand, she said, adding: “This is all related, all part of the housing crisis.”
According to the report, a single wage earner would have to make $19.45 an hour to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire. It would take three minimum wage jobs to earn that much money.
The mean average wage for the state is $13.73.
Rents are higher the closer you live near Massachusetts, the highest being in the Lawrence metropolitan area, which includes Salem (average rent: $1,144), which also saw the biggest increase -- a whopping 58.5 percent over the last eight years.
Farther north, average rents drop a bit to an average of $907 for a two-bedroom apartment. However, because wages are lower in those areas, the rents are even more out of reach for those who live there, and actually exceeding median renter income. Either way -- based on the recommendation that housing costs shouldn’t exceed 30 percent of income -- about half of New Hampshire’s renters are living in apartments that they can’t afford.
© 2007, New Hampshire Business Review