By TIM RONALDSON | Business Trends
The South Jersey residential real estate market can hardly be considered a unified market anymore.
It’s tough to judge it in a regional sense, said Dave Lewis, director of the New Jersey Association of Realtors and broker/owner of B.T. Edgar & Son Realtors in Moorestown.
Real estate has become so local in this economy that how well the market is performing no longer depends on the region, or even county, but rather the municipality. While trends in general statistics such as average sales price, units sold and average days on the market are similar for Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties, there are municipalities that are performing well and others that are not, and the reasons for it are not obvious.
“It is improving, but it’s an interesting improvement,” Lewis said.
In Burlington County, Lewis cited Marlton, Mt. Laurel, Hainesport, Florence and Pemberton as “hot” markets – those with home sales that increased from 2008 to 2009.
The “soft” markets in Burlington County include Burlington, Medford, Moorestown and Palmyra. The oddity with this, Lewis said, is that even though first-time home buyers could be fueling the increase in Mt. Laurel and Marlton – towns with a higher percentage of condos and townhouses – Palmyra, a town with lower-priced homes, isn’t doing well.
Camden County’s hot markets include Cherry Hill, Mt. Ephraim, Oaklyn, Audubon and Pennsauken, Lewis said; the soft markets are Camden, Brooklawn and Lawnside. In Gloucester County, the hot markets include Turnersville, Paulsboro and Wenonah; soft markets include Westville, Thorofare and Mullica Hill.
First-time home buyers taking advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit are certainly leading the charge for home sales. According to the New Jersey Association of Realtors, they accounted for 52 percent of all home purchases in 2009, compared to 48 percent in 2008 and 36 percent in 2007. But the determining factor in whether a municipality’s real estate market is hot or soft is its inventory: The more homes on the market, the more flooded it becomes, the worse off it is.
“What I’m finding in our market (Moorestown), our low end is doing well and our high end is doing well,” Lewis said. Those homes priced in the mid-range – not catered specifically to either first-time home buyers or the wealthy – are clumped together with many similar homes. Lewis stressed that homeowners should be patient when they put their homes on the market, but “if your home is priced right, and it’s well maintained, it’s going to sell. It sticks out more now, because there are more homes to choose from.”
In 2009, homes stayed on the market for an average of 104 days in Burlington County, compared to 90 days in 2008, according to data from Trend MLS. In Camden County, it was 94 days in 2009 compared to 82 in 2008, and in Gloucester County, 104 days compared to 93.
The number of units sold per year and average sale prices of homes both dropped by about 10 percent in 2009. The number of units sold in Burlington County was 3,997 (at an average of $246,034), for Camden County 4,171 ($197,072), and for Gloucester County 2,383 ($217,249). In 2008, those numbers were 4,167 ($268,336), 4,339 ($209,451) and 2,442 ($236,047), respectively.
What these numbers do tell is that home buyers have an advantage, as there are plenty of homes to choose from, at a much lower price than a year ago at this time. Lewis suggested that potential home buyers start by talking to a mortgage company before searching for homes. Make sure you qualify and get your paperwork in order, he said, and then “it’s just a matter of finding the right house.”
The federal tax credit for first-time home buyers – and a similar $6,500 tax credit for existing homeowners – expires in the spring; a written contract must be in place by April 30, and the transaction must close by June 30, according to the New Jersey Association of Realtors. Lewis is hoping the momentum the tax credit has already created, and should continue to create in the first two quarters of this year, will be coupled with a continued improvement in the economy as a whole to create a truly vibrant market.
“We have hit the bottom. We’re starting to work our way up,” he said. For that to happen, though, the credit market has to loosen. Whereas a couple years ago it was too loose, it’s too tight right now, Lewis said. “We need to find a middle ground. The rates are attractive. It just needs to be made available,” he said. The Association of Realtors is lobbying banks to aid in their endeavor, and “the sooner the better,” according to Lewis.
Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 12:08 pm
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