Can You Afford to Buy a Home Yet in NJ?

There hasn't been a real "spring market" for selling your home in New Jersey for a couple of years now, mainly because the market's been hot year-round.

That continues to be the case. And while the wild bidding wars are now few and far between, and sellers' hopes of getting $40,000 to $100,000 over their asking price is likely out of reach, sellers are still in the driver's seat.

The main reason for that is a lack of inventory. Compared to just a year prior, inventory of single-family homes for sale was down 14.5% across the Garden State in March 2023, according to monthly reports from New Jersey Realtors.

"The buyers are still out there, they are still fighting for homeownership, to win that bid," said Robert White, past president of New Jersey Realtors.

But multiple offers aren't shooting sales prices through the roof, White said. In certain communities or municipalities, sellers can get "over ask" — it's certainly not a near-guarantee like it was statewide in 2021 and 2022.

The median sales price for a single-family home in New Jersey is $450,000 year to date for 2023, according to the New Jersey Realtors report.

In March 2023, New Jersey recorded 4,671 closed sales across all types of properties.

Greedy pricing?

Homes are spending more time on the market today. As of March 2023, the average single-family home was sitting on the market for 48 days until selling, compared to 39 days in March 2022.

White believes the additional time can be attributed to sellers seeing how much they can squeeze out of buyers, but the buyers aren't biting.

"I think there is inventory out there that is probably priced too high," White said. "It's priced back in the 2021 market, and they really need to make an adjustment now."