Best Places to Buy Rental Property in New Hampshire (2026)

Hudson leads New Hampshire on gross yield at 6.1 percent, not because it is the cheapest city here (that is Keene at $375,000) but because its $2,700 median asking rent is high for a $530,000 home. Manchester, the busiest market on the list with about 165 closings a month, sits tenth of 16 at 5.2 percent. A second table lists one city with enough closings to price but too few rental listings to rank.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Hudson, 6.1 percent gross

Hudson ranks first on yield but only seventh on entry price: the $2,700 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $530,000 median closed price across 227 closings, $2,700 median asking rent across 159 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $297 per square foot. The Hudson market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Keene, 6.1 percent gross

Read Keene's $1,895 rent as an apartment figure: 70 percent of its listings are apartments or condos. The numbers: $375,000 median closed price across 189 closings, $1,895 median asking rent across 225 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $227 per square foot. Full detail is on the Keene market page.

3. Exeter, 5.8 percent gross

Rent is what puts Exeter third here; on price alone it would sit eighth of 16. The numbers: $535,000 median closed price across 209 closings, $2,600 median asking rent across 152 listings, 5.8 percent gross. See the Exeter page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Concord, 5.7 percent gross

Read Concord's $2,000 rent as an apartment figure: 69 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $2,400. Homes in Concord closed at a median of $420,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,000, a gross yield of 5.7 percent. See the Concord page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Merrimack, 5.6 percent gross

Rent is what puts Merrimack fifth here; on price alone it would sit tenth of 16. Homes in Merrimack closed at a median of $545,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,565, a gross yield of 5.6 percent. See the Merrimack page for the property mix and the price band.

6. Salem, 5.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Salem sixth here; on price alone it would sit eleventh of 16. Homes in Salem closed at a median of $550,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,482, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $340 per square foot. Full detail is on the Salem market page.

7. Laconia, 5.3 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Laconia far: it is third cheapest on this list and seventh on yield, with rent of $1,898 against a $430,000 median price. The numbers: $430,000 median closed price across 322 closings, $1,898 median asking rent across 284 listings, 5.3 percent gross. Full detail is on the Laconia market page.

8. Londonderry, 5.2 percent gross

Rent is what puts Londonderry eighth here; on price alone it would sit twelfth of 16. At $573,000 to buy and $2,500 a month to rent, Londonderry yields 5.2 percent gross on 325 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $304 per square foot. The Londonderry market page carries the monthly figures.

9. Derry, 5.2 percent gross

Derry's rental sample is 71 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $2,195 asking median understates what a house rents for there. At $505,000 to buy and $2,195 a month to rent, Derry yields 5.2 percent gross on 373 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $311 per square foot. Full detail is on the Derry market page.

10. Manchester, 5.2 percent gross

Manchester is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fourth on price, tenth on yield, because a $455,000 home there rents for only $1,978. The numbers: $455,000 median closed price across 988 closings, $1,978 median asking rent across 1,938 listings, 5.2 percent gross. Full detail is on the Manchester market page.

11. Portsmouth, 5.1 percent gross

Rent is what puts Portsmouth eleventh here; on price alone it would sit fifteenth of 16. The numbers: $689,900 median closed price across 306 closings, $2,950 median asking rent across 542 listings, 5.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $560 per square foot. The Portsmouth market page carries the monthly figures.

12. Nashua, 5.1 percent gross

Nashua is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: eighth on price, twelfth on yield, because a $535,000 home there rents for only $2,280. Homes in Nashua closed at a median of $535,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,280, a gross yield of 5.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $305 per square foot. Full detail is on the Nashua market page.

13. Goffstown, 4.8 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Goffstown far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and thirteenth on yield, with rent of $1,995 against a $500,000 median price. Homes in Goffstown closed at a median of $500,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,995, a gross yield of 4.8 percent. Houses there closed at about $280 per square foot. See the Goffstown page for the property mix and the price band.

14. Dover, 4.8 percent gross

Read Dover's $2,300 rent as an apartment figure: 64 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $3,000. The numbers: $579,000 median closed price across 304 closings, $2,300 median asking rent across 708 listings, 4.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $334 per square foot. See the Dover page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Hampton, 4.6 percent gross

Read Hampton's $2,395 rent as an apartment figure: 63 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $2,895. At $618,750 to buy and $2,395 a month to rent, Hampton yields 4.6 percent gross on 266 tracked closings. See the Hampton page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Bedford, 3.4 percent gross

Bedford's rental sample is 64 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $2,292 asking median understates what a house rents for there. At $819,000 to buy and $2,292 a month to rent, Bedford yields 3.4 percent gross on 209 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $302 per square foot. The Bedford market page carries the monthly figures.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

These cities cleared 100 tracked closings but fewer than 50 rental listings carried their name in the last twelve months, so no yield is printed for them.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every New Hampshire city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 16 cities qualify.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $510,000 across 14,425 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More New Hampshire rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in New Hampshire ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median. The New Hampshire housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest New Hampshire markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.