The Garden State is also on the wrong side of the ledger when it comes to seriously underwater mortgages, where property owners owe at least 25 percent more than a home's current estimated value.
But some of the more outlandish home buying anecdotes may not repeat themselves; there might be closer to an average of six to 12 offers per property, at 3% to 5% over the asking price.
The difficulties in securing single-family properties have seemingly pushed many toward townhouses and condo units, for which sales were up almost 11% in August versus the same month in 2020.
A recent study revealed a nearly 5 percent jump in homes worth $1 million or more in the New York metro area, and while that snapshot does include some towns on the Jersey side of the Hudson, the Garden State has several other high-end areas.
Home prices in New Jersey are still more than 16 percent below their record high, reached in the middle of 2006 before the housing meltdown, according to the most recent federal data.