Jane on Portsmouth, NH

I'm Jane Smith with Good Houses LLC, based in Portsmouth, and I help people buy and sell homes up and down the Seacoast, inland through Exeter, Dover, and Manchester, and across the border in Vermont from Burlington and Shelburne to Montpelier. Most of my work is with first-time buyers, and I think the best thing I can offer them is an honest picture of how each town really feels to live in, since a first place in Dover's mill neighborhoods is a very different start than a first place near the lake in South Burlington. I keep this page updated with my current listings, local market numbers, and a few stories I think are worth reading, so it's a good spot to check in whenever you're thinking about your next move.

FEATURED LISTING

On the market

Just Listed

$800,000

12 Maple Street, Rye, NH

LOCAL PULSE · PORTSMOUTH

Where Portsmouth, NH stands

A quick read on the numbers in Portsmouth, NH right now.

30-year fixed mortgage rate	7.40% unchanged from last week · Oct 15
Median sale price	$741,922 ↑ home values up 3.3% year over year · Jul 2026
Days to pending	15 steady pace · Jul 2026
Sale-to-list price ratio	99.4% 31% of homes sold over list · Jul 2026

Freddie Mac PMMS + Zillow, Portsmouth, NH

NATIONAL MARKET

The National Median Price of a New Home Fell to $393,700 in August, 5.8% Lower Than a Year Ago

Newly built homes across the U.S. sold at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 684,000 in August, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. That was 6.4% higher than July's pace of 643,000 and 2% lower than August 2025.

The Census Bureau noted that both changes fall within its margin of error, so it's best to treat them as a sign that sales held fairly steady rather than as a big jump.

New home prices moved more. The national median sales price was $393,700, compared with $417,900 a year earlier. The national average price was $478,700.

About 483,000 new homes were for sale at the end of August, which works out to about 8.5 months of supply at the current pace of sales.

In plain terms, builders nationwide have a lot of finished and in-progress homes to sell, and new home prices are running below last year's levels. For buyers who would consider a new home, that can mean more room to negotiate. These are national figures, and new home prices and supply differ a lot from one market to the next.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (link)

WORTH KNOWING

68% of Homeowners Say They Are Happy With Their Finances, Compared With 47% of Non-Owners

Housing costs have climbed and household budgets feel stretched, so you might guess that owning a home would leave people feeling more squeezed. A recent national survey, reported by Florida Realtors, found the opposite.

Sixty-eight percent of homeowners said they were satisfied with their financial situation. Among people who do not own a home, the figure was 47 percent. That is a gap of 21 percentage points, and it showed up even though homeowners face the same rising costs everyone else does.

The survey does not suggest homeowners have it easy. Money stress was common in both groups. Forty-two percent of homeowners said they live paycheck to paycheck.

For non-homeowners, the number was 61 percent. So a lot of owners are still watching every dollar. They just reported feeling better about where they stand overall.

A survey like this cannot show that buying a home makes anyone happier with their money. People who already feel steady may simply be more likely to buy. Still, the finding is a hopeful counterpoint to all the bad news about costs, and it gives friends and family something to talk about.

If the topic comes up at your next dinner, here is a number you can share: about two out of three homeowners say they are content with their financial picture, even in a period of tight budgets.

Source: Florida Realtors (link)

Jane Smith

Good Houses LLC

(222) 222-2221

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