READ THE REPORT
North Central New Jersey Real Estate Market Report
May 2020 Special Edition
A Word About This Report
Due to the significant shock to the economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we are supplementing our quarterly residential real estate market report for North Central NJ with this abridged edition. We’ve studied county-level data in half-month increments to deliver a more accurate picture of current market conditions, while at the same time providing a sample that is large enough to be meaningful.
- In residential real estate, the most telling metric we have is “Contracts Pended.” These are purchase offers that have been accepted during a given period.
- “Unit Sales” (e.g. “closings”) is a lagging indicator that typically reflects activity from 45-60 days prior.
- “New Listings” will impact inventory levels, creating a buyer’s or seller’s market, and may also reflect seller confidence.
- Lastly, we have added a chart showing “Median Sale Price” since February 2019 in order to illustrate the impact that the pandemic is having on residential real estate prices in the region.
Contracts Pended
At their worst moment, during the first half of April, Contracts Pended were down on average about 60% as compared with the same period last year. Residential real estate has shown great resilience since then, and is now off in our region by only about 25%. In a shift from earlier trends, Hunterdon County’s recovery now lags behind Morris County, Somerset County and our select towns in western Union and Essex Counties.
New Listings
An increase in buyer activity and the industry’s adoption of virtual showing methods has led to a decent surge in listing activity. The fact that Contracts Pended are recovering more rapidly than New Listings should help avoid an over-supply of listings in some areas, though possibly exacerbating already-constrained supplies in other areas.
Median Price
While median prices in all areas show a positive trend from February through April, we must caution against celebration just yet. For one thing, prices typically follow a seasonal pattern, improving slightly in the spring market and dipping over winter. More importantly, these numbers are derived from homes that have already sold and closed, reflecting activity that largely occurred pre-pandemic. The next several weeks will give us a much clearer picture of how prices will be impacted by coronavirus.
As always, and perhaps now more than ever, our market varies considerably from town to town. The insight and guidance of a professional real estate agent are more important than ever, and at Turpin we take that responsibility very seriously. Your Turpin agent welcomes the opportunity to discuss the particulars of your unique real estate situation at your convenience, by video conference or any other method of communication you prefer!