Ocean County, NJ-Real Estate Report-First Quarter 2011

The Ocean County real estate market in the first quarter of 2011:

This chart displays the sales and inventory of Single Family Homes in Ocean County, NJ. The high-lighted area focuses on the first quarter of 2011. As we can see, sales have steadily increased month-over-month but the supply of homes for sale has remained relatively stable at just over 19 months. Both of these factors could be attributed to March traditionally marking the beginning of the “Spring Selling Season”; when we historically see more homes come on the market in anticipation of more buyers entering the market.

The Ocean County real estate market in the first quarter of 2010:

Notice the significant differences in the high-lighted area between February and March of 2010; sales shot up while inventory dropped! This is because we were entering the last 2 months of the “Extended Home-Buyer Tax Credit” here in Ocean County. So, with the Federal Government offering up to $8,000 to home-buyers at this time last year, Ocean County is only 24 sales behind, year-over-year. Why?

Sold/Closed Profile of Homes in Ocean County (Year over Year):

As we can plainly see, the most active price ranges (between $100,000 and $500,000), saw the most significant changes in the $100,000 to $149,999 and $150,000 to $199,999 price ranges; +54% and +23% respectively.

In a nutshell; without the artificial demand created by the “Extended Home-Buyer Tax Credit”, home prices have depreciated to levels that have made them attractive to investor buyers (short sales/foreclosures) and first time home-buyers alike. Combined with slowly but steadily climbing mortgage interest rates, home-buyers may be jumping off that proverbial fence in Ocean County, NJ.