Coos County

Coos County sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 6.16%, which is the highest in the New Hampshire data set shown here and places it firmly on the cash-flow end of the spectrum rather than the appreciation end. The cap rate comes in at 4%, which is modest but meaningful for a state where most counties don't get close. The appreciation story, however, is essentially nonexistent right now: home prices declined 1.53% year-over-year, and the appreciation score of 42 out of 100 reflects that. The overall score of 57 and a national percentile rank of 42 tell you this is a below-median market nationally, but it ranks third out of ten New Hampshire counties, which says more about how compressed the rest of the state is than it does about Coos being a standout.

The cash-flow picture deserves honest scrutiny before you get excited about that 6.16% ratio. At a $255,951 purchase price with 20% down and a 6.85% rate, the modeled mortgage runs $1,342 per month. Add $460 in estimated expenses and you're at $1,802 in monthly carry before taxes and insurance. Median rent of $1,314 leaves you negative $488 per month on a cash-on-cash basis of negative 9.95%. The cash flow score of 62 reflects the relative position within the tool's universe, but the raw underwriting says this is not a market where you buy at median price with conventional financing and generate positive cash flow at current rates. A meaningful purchase price discount, additional income units, or a value-add execution that lifts rents above the $1,314 median is required to make the numbers work.

Property taxes are the single biggest underwriting variable to stress-test here. New Hampshire's state-average effective property tax rate is 2.18%, a very high rate by national standards, and at that rate a $255,951 property carries an estimated $5,580 in annual taxes, or $465 per month in tax alone. Combined with $49 per month in estimated insurance, the tax-and-insurance line lands at $514 per month. That $514 is not a rounding error: it exceeds the estimated expense load of $460 and is large enough to determine whether a deal is viable or not. The tool uses the Tax Foundation 2024 state-average effective rate, and actual county and township rates in Coos will vary, sometimes materially, so your first call before underwriting any specific address should be to the county assessor. New Hampshire has no income tax and no sales tax, which attracts certain tenant profiles, but the property tax structure means the landlord absorbs the state's fiscal load directly through the mill rate rather than through a broad tax base.

The economic context for Coos County is constrained by the county's small population of 31,430. No economic anchors or employer data were provided, so no specific claims about job concentration can be made here. What the affordability index of 75 does indicate is that homes are accessible relative to local incomes, which is a prerequisite for owner-occupant demand and a floor on tenant purchasing power. A stability score of 50 suggests the market is neither particularly resilient nor fragile by the model's measure.

Compared to the neighboring counties in this data set, Coos has the lowest median home price by a wide margin: $255,951 versus $413,099 in Grafton, $470,918 in Merrimack, $485,977 in Strafford, $503,490 in Hillsborough, and $599,250 in Rockingham. It also has the highest rent-to-price ratio of the group at 6.16%, while Rockingham sits at the bottom of the neighbor set at 4.73%. The overall scores across all five neighbors cluster between 54 and 60, meaning Coos at 57 is not measurably better or worse than the comparison set on a composite basis. Grafton County, with a 5.94% rent-to-price ratio and an overall score of 60, is the closest peer and slightly outscores Coos while offering meaningfully higher rent levels at $2,046 per month versus $1,314. An investor whose strategy depends on rent volume and appreciation upside would find Grafton or the southern tier counties more compelling. Coos makes sense over the neighbors only for a buyer who is explicitly seeking the lowest acquisition cost in New Hampshire, is underwriting to a specific discount below median, or is pursuing a value-add or multi-unit strategy where the low entry price absorbs the very high tax rate and still generates acceptable returns. At median price with standard financing, none of these counties pencil to positive cash flow, and Coos is no exception.