How's the Market

With Spring finally here, hopefully to stay, its time to start looking at how the market is doing for the first quarter of 2014.  Usually at this point of the year the Spring selling season is well under way and agents are running from house to house.  With the weather that clamped down the North East this year we are not seeing our typical big start quite yet.  With warmer weather and clear skies we hope that will soon come to northern New Jersey.

The bad news for the first quarter is that less homes sold so far (as of March 31, 2014) than during the same time period last year.  Many of the agents I have spoken to have said the same thing that the weather has kept both buyers and sellers on the shelf so far.  Obviously that won’t last forever and my prediction is that things will start to pick up in the next weekend.  The area is supporting a big open house weekend so that should kick start buyers to start looking again.  Come visit me at my Open House at6 Madeline Court Washington Township Sunday April 27 from 100-400pm or Elaine at 738 Sixth Avenue River Edge during the same time.

The good news however is that the homes that did sell in january, February, and Match sold for more than they did in the same time in 2013.  In all 971 homes in the first quarter of 2013 for an average sale price of $520,914.  In comparison 920 homes sold in 2014 with an average sale price of $572,447.  That is a $52,000 jump!  the time it took to sell those houses dropped from 108 days to 94 days.

All of these numbers are significant and will continue to shape the market but I for one am encouraged by rising prices and lower days on the market.  This doesn’t mean that everyone’s home just gained $50,000 in value but it does mean things are getting better.  According to RE/MAX home sales increased by 24.6% rom February to March 2014.  In Bergen County we saw a jump from 249 homes sold to 313 sold in March.  It is still not as high as the 367 that were sold last March but month to month improvements are good.

So how is the market?  Overall it has been healthy in Bergen County.  Our inventory grew last month from 2,212 in February to 2,608 in Marchand is about 300 units higher than last March.  We have been griping about our inventory shortage so is that changing?  Only time will tell but the same trends seem to be holding true in April: less sales for more money in less time.

To see the stats for yourself click on my market stats and you can download all of the information I discussed in this article.