Home sales are booming in these New Jersey towns

New Jersey real estate has been on a roller coaster this year. Home sales were strong at the beginning of the year, then cratered because of the pandemic, then started taking off again over the summer and are finishing the year strong. Fueled by low interest rates and an influx of city residents looking for more space home sales have stayed at unusually high levels.

New Jersey Monthly surveyed realtors throughout the state to get an idea of where the market is the hottest and found some surprising trends. They point out that walkable cities had been in favor in recent years, but this year showed a trend toward homes with more space and big yards in places like Hunterdon and Sussex Counties. Also, homes priced at $2.5 million and up showed unusually strong sales.

The Otteau Group, a real estate consulting firm, identified for New Jersey Monthly ten areas that showed particularly strong home sales (they are listed alphabetically):

• Avalon/Stone Harbor (Cape May County)
• Colts Neck (Monmouth County)
• Edison (Middlesex County)
• Mount Laurel (Burlington County)
• Raritan Township (Hunterdon County)
• Ringwood (Passaic County)
• Roxbury (Morris County)
• South Orange (Essex County)
• Sparta (Sussex County)
• Upper Saddle River (Bergen County)

With tight inventories and increased demand, Otteau told the magazine that home values should rise about 6% in the coming year with many homes selling for over list price. Sales of homes at all price levels, from starter homes to luxury homes are predicted to remain strong.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.