How Much Does a House Cost in NJ?

Real Estate in New Jersey

Home Buyers

First-timers buying homes at below the market average — are coming into the market at an increasing pace, which is reflected in the median price of homes sold in New Jersey.  The median price of a home showed the strongest year-over year growth since 2005, according a fourth quarter report from the National Association of Realtors. Like its economy, the New Jersey Real Estate market is an active one. Proximity to New York and Philadelphia make NJ real estate especially desirable.

And although New Jersey has lagged behind in the housing recovery in recent surveys, several sections in the Garden State showed strong increases, outperforming the rest of the Northeast region.

The realtors group (NAR) cited an improving job market, continued low interest rates and a shrinking supply of homes. At the end of the fourth quarter, 22 percent fewer homes were available nationwide as foreclosed homes continued to move out of the inventory mix, which is at a 12-year low.

Home prices nationwide rose 10 percent in December 2012 from a year earlier. In the Northeast, overall the increase was 0.7 percent.

But in New Jersey, the Trenton-Ewing region outpaced the national median with a 12.6 percent increase, where the median price of a home went from $219,000 to $244,000. A seasoned property appraiser like Abbe Edleman can provide property appraisals yielding these types of financial statistics for any demographic area.  The Newark-Union market saw a 6.8 percent rise, while five of the six other regions in the state saw prices climb. Only Edison dropped by 2..5 percent.

New Jersey Association of Realtors (NAR) said that considering the state’s climb from the residual effects of Hurricane Sandy, the cold winter months and New Jersey’s continued distended foreclosure inventory, there still is some time before New Jersey catches up to the national rate of home price growth. However, the state of New Jersey is on the right path.”

New Jersey’s Attractions (Personal and Commercial)

New Jersey is home to numerous chemical plants and major pharmaceutical firms, including Merck, Wyeth, Johnson and Johnson, Novartis, and Pfizer. Significantly, the largest petroleum containment system outside of the Middle East is located in New Jersey, which is well known for its abundance of oil refineries. In the business arena, nearly 100 companies on the Fortune 500 list have headquarters in or conduct business from New Jersey. The New Jersey economy has also benefited greatly from its tourism industry. Chief among New Jersey’s attractions is the Jersey Shore with its seaside resorts and beaches. Among them, Ocean City, rated by The Travel Channel as the best family beach of 2005; the reborn Atlantic City, with its casinos, amusement pier, beaches, and a 5.75 mile boardwalk, the longest in the world; and Cape May, well known for the charm of its Victorian gingerbread houses and for bird watching, which is capped off by the annual World Series of Birding.

 

Nature’s Attractions

The Pine Barrens of southern and central New Jersey are another major point of interest. Uncommon soil conditions have developed a unique and diverse spectrum of plant life, such as orchids, carnivorous plants, and the rare pygmy Pitch Pines that depend on fire to reproduce. The Pine Barrens gave rise to the legend of the Jersey Devil, said to have been born to a local woman named Mrs. Leeds in the 1700s. In western NJ, where it borders Pennsylvania, a more rural landscape features the Delaware Water Gap, a mountain pass where the Delaware River traverses a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The Delaware Water Gap is the site of a National Recreation Area, where visitors may enjoy rafting, canoeing, swimming, fishing, hiking and rock climbing.

 

The Top 10 Most Expensive New Jersey Cities

1. Alpine
2. Saddle River
3. Mantoloking
4. Short Hills
5. Spring Lake
6. Franklin Lakes
7. Sea Girt
8. Stone Harbor
9. Englewood Cliffs
10. 10. Avalon