One trend that’s been getting less attention than interest rates or inflation is what’s happening with housing inventory — not just low supply, but why supply is staying low.
More and more sellers are choosing to pull listings off the market rather than sell into uncertainty. Some are waiting for lower rates. Others are holding out for prices they believe their property is worth. Either way, the outcome is the same: fewer homes available, even as demand still exists.
At the same time, the pool of buyers who can realistically purchase a home right now is narrowing.
One data point that helps explain this is unemployment among younger workers. While overall unemployment remains relatively low, the unemployment rate for people in their early 20s (roughly ages 20–24) has climbed to around 9%. That's the highest it's been since 2008. That age group represents many first-time homebuyers — people early in their careers who historically would be forming households, building savings, and entering the housing market.
Higher unemployment in that cohort doesn’t just mean fewer people buying today. It also means delayed savings, delayed career progression, and delayed ability to qualify for mortgages in the future. When combined with elevated home prices and higher monthly payments, access to homeownership starts to look very different than it did even a few years ago.
What we’re seeing is a market where ownership is increasingly concentrated among a smaller, more financially secure group — higher earners, dual-income households, existing homeowners, or buyers receiving family help. Demand hasn’t disappeared, but who can act on that demand has changed.
At the same time, rents — even here in Southern New Hampshire — have softened for the first time in a while. National data shows rents declining or flattening for several consecutive months, and we’re starting to see that trickle into parts of New England. In certain submarkets, landlords are offering small concessions or seeing slightly longer lease-up periods than we’ve been used to over the past few years.
That said, this feels less like a demand problem and more like a short-term adjustment. New construction deliveries, seasonal slowdowns, and general economic uncertainty are all contributing factors. Importantly, supply remains structurally constrained in our region, and the underlying drivers of rental demand haven’t changed.
For multifamily investors, this matters. When fewer people can buy — whether temporarily or structurally — more people rent. In supply-constrained regions like New England, brief periods of rent softness have historically been followed by renewed upward pressure once conditions stabilize. Maybe I’m too optimistic, time will tell.
That doesn’t mean the market is risk-free — it never is — but it does reinforce why well-located, well-maintained rental housing continues to be resilient here.