Why a Small New England City Is Suddenly the Country’s Hottest Housing Market

Inexpensive homes and plenty of colleges nearby play a part

The rushing Merrimack River in Manchester, New Hampshire
Not the Vegas you were expecting, perhaps.
Captain-tucker - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Over the course of the last year, the housing market has undergone some surprising changes as a result of the pandemic. Some home buyers have opted to embrace remote work, while others have relocated out of cities and to less densely-populated regions. It’s led to growth in some unexpected parts of the country, though whether that flow of people will remain or dwindle in the coming months remains to be seen.

A new article by Libertina Brandt at Business Insider explores the town that’s become an unexpected real estate hotspot in the last year. One might even say that what’s happening in Vegas isn’t necessarily staying in Vegas. Note, though, that we’re not talking about Las Vegas here. Rather, this is all about ManchVegas — one of the nicknames for the low-key college town of Manchester, New Hampshire.

As Brandt writes, a new report at Realtor.com has named Manchester the nation’s hottest housing market. Real estate broker Jeff Nyhan told Buisness Insider, “If you have a home in the $300,000 to $400,000 range right now in the greater Manchester area, it’s out the door as soon as you list it.”

Manchester is relatively close to Boston, but also offers less expensive real estate, which helps to explain why there’s been such demand to live there. It doesn’t hurt that it boasts an active cultural scene, including the Currier Museum and a number of colleges and universities. Could ManchVegas eventually become the nation’s preeminent Vegas? Stranger things have happened.

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