New Jersey Real Estate Report

What’s it really cost to live here

Posted on November 29, 2024 by grim

From NJ Digest:

NJ Residents Pay More in Taxes Than Anywhere in Nation, New Study Finds

New Jersey residents will pay more in taxes over their lifetimes than those in any other state, according to a recent study by Self Financial.

The analysis, titled A Life of Tax, estimates the average American will pay $524,625 in taxes over a lifetime, accounting for just over one-third of total earnings. However, New Jersey’s tax burden far surpasses that figure, with residents paying an average of $987,117 throughout their lives — the highest in the nation.

The study determined that this tax burden amounts to 54.3% of lifetime earnings, also the largest percentage among all states.

Here’s how New Jersey’s taxes break down:

Property tax: $564,614 (highest in the nation)
Income tax: $334,260 (6th highest in the nation)
Personal spending tax: $54,961 (19th highest)
Car tax: $33,282 (26th highest)

The report included property, income, sales, and vehicle taxes for all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Other locations with high lifetime tax burdens include Washington, D.C. ($884,820), Connecticut ($855,307), Massachusetts ($816,700), and New York ($748,199).

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 76 Comments

Prices slowing?

Posted on November 27, 2024 by grim

From MarketWatch:

Home-price growth has ‘stalled,’ Case-Shiller says

Home prices in the 20 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas lost more steam in September, buckling under the pressure of high mortgage rates and historic unaffordability.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city house-price index rose 0.2% in September, compared with the previous month.

Home prices in the 20 major U.S. metropolitan markets were up 4.6% in the 12 months ending in September.

That’s a deceleration compared with an increase of 5.2% the previous month. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal expected the 20-city index to increase by 4.8%.

A broader measure of home prices, the national index, rose 0.3% in September and was up 3.9% over the past year. All numbers are seasonally adjusted.

Home prices posted the slowest gain since September 2023.

Even though prices are growing less rapidly, the 20-city and national indexes still inched to new record highs in September.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 74 Comments

Rethinking outdated public notice requirements

Posted on November 25, 2024 by grim

From the Real Deal:

As print publications dwindle, real estate struggles to meet public notice requirements

New Jersey’s largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger, announced last month it would cease print editions beginning early next year. It marks a loss not just for Jersey residents who prefer a hard copy of their paper, but for real estate developers who need it for legal reasons.

Real estate developers are required to publish notices of the planning and zoning process for projects in many states and municipalities across the country, an increasingly difficult mandate to meet as daily print publications close shop, ROI NJ reported.

Land use and zoning attorney Kathryn Razin said there will need to be changes to where developers and municipalities are required to publish public notices in the years to come, and further print shutdowns will put pressure on these legal requirements.

“For now, you have to be diligent to make sure that when that publication you’re providing a notice is still going to be in print,” she told the outlet. “You also have to double check that the municipality hasn’t designated a new ‘official newspaper.’”

The faltering availability of print publications for these purposes may also precipitate discussion of whether these public notice mandates are outdated or need amending, she said.

“I think this has raised discussions on that statutory requirement, and whether we should be allowing a newspaper’s website to satisfy these requirements in lieu of a print publication,” she told the outlet. “From an applicant’s standpoint, this has been a long-standing requirement and could be seen as antiquated and in need of an update, alongside other statutory requirements.”

Posted in National Real Estate, New Jersey Real Estate | 86 Comments

October sales … UP!

Posted on November 22, 2024 by grim

From CNBC:

Home sales surged in October, just before mortgage rates jumped

A sharp drop in mortgage rates brought homebuyers off the fence in October after a slow summer.

Sales of previously owned homes last month rose 3.4% from September to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 3.96 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were 2.9% higher than October of last year, marking the first annual increase in more than three years.

This count is based on signed contracts, meaning most of the deals were made in August and September. During that time, the average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage was falling. It started August around 6.6% and dropped to a low of 6.11% by mid-September, according to Mortgage News Daily.

“The worst of the downturn in home sales could be over, with increasing inventory leading to more transactions,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a release. “Additional job gains and continued economic growth appear assured, resulting in growing housing demand. However, for most first-time homebuyers, mortgage financing is critically important. While mortgage rates remain elevated, they are expected to stabilize.”

There were 1.37 million units for sale at the end of October, an increase of 19.1% from October 2023. That puts inventory at a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace. It is still on the leaner side, as a six-month supply is considered balanced between buyer and seller.

Tight supply continues to put upward pressure on prices. The median price of an existing home sold in October was $407,200, an increase of 4% from the year before. By price category, the higher end of the market is seeing more activity than the lower end.

“We still need another 30% in inventory just to get us back to the pre-Covid conditions,” Yun said.

The share of all-cash buyers pulled back to 27%, down from 29% in October 2023. That is still high historically, but lower mortgage rates likely caused that share to drop.

First-time buyers made up 27% of sales, down from 28% the year before and still historically low. They usually make up 40% of sales.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 128 Comments

Live like Paul Volker

Posted on November 21, 2024 by grim

From the Record:

North Jersey home of President Obama’s economic recovery board chair listed for $3.5M

Nestled along Park Street, just a few hundred feet from Montclair’s Applegate Farm stands the Tinkham-Volcker house.

Listed for sale in early November for $3.5 million by Saritte Harel of Keller Williams Realty, the six-bedroom, six-bathroom Colonial Revival at 509 Park Street is a reflection of both the town’s agricultural past and its transition into a bustling modern suburb.

Though the roughly 125-year-old home underwent some alterations in the 1940s, much of its original charm remains. From the classic stone wall along Park Street to the detached terra cotta garage built in 1914, the property has clear historical roots. However, it is also a showcase for clean modern luxury.

A recent renovation aided by Adriana Smyth Interiors has transformed the 9,000-square-foot home. There is a chef’s kitchen with premium appliances, including a La Cornue gas range, quartz countertops and a seamless connection to the formal dining room that offers picturesque views of the property’s grounds.

The Tinkham-Volcker house gets the second half of its name from its most famous resident, Paul Volcker. The cigar smoking chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board from 1979 to 1987, Volcker also served as chair of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board from 2009 to 2011.

Deeply rooted in New Jersey, he was born in Cape May in 1927, raised in Teaneck and educated at Princeton University. He spent a quarter century in domestic and international finance before serving two terms as chairman of “the Fed” under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Volcker, who owned 509 Park in the 1980s, was known for his commitment to monetary restraint and inflation limiting strategies. He was also known for backing financial regulation and helping to inform the “Volcker Rule,” a feature of the Dodd-Frank Act that limits banks involvement with short-term trading, hedge funds and private equity funds.

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, North Jersey Real Estate | 99 Comments

Greedy boomers living too long

Posted on November 19, 2024 by grim

From Fortune:

The ‘Oracle of Wall Street’ says home prices need to fall 20% to end the ‘generational schism’

Baby boomers own more homes than millennials and Gen Zers, creating a “generational schism” in the world of housing, according to Meredith Whitney, the “Oracle of Wall Street,” who predicted the Great Financial Crisis.

Boomers aren’t selling, and that’s a problem. “They’re not selling because they’re aging in place, because they can’t afford to go anywhere else,” Whitney said last week in an interview with CNBC. “Until they sell, you’re going to have this real standoff between sellers and buyers.”

So what’ll it take? Well, home prices have to fall; Whitney said prices need to drop about 20%. But that price decline would only take us to the price levels of three or four years ago before the pandemic and its corresponding housing boom. Plus, people would still have a lot of equity in their homes, Whitney explained, so it wouldn’t be a housing crash.

At this point, it doesn’t make sense for a lot of people to sell their homes because they have either locked in a low mortgage rate or own their home outright. To give that up would likely mean a much higher mortgage rate, and a much more expensive home. Considering an unwillingness to sell from older generations, that leaves fewer homes for younger generations to buy; those that are for sale are, in some cases, unaffordable because prices continue to rise since supply is tight—and mortgage rates are higher than what people are used to.

In some cases, people list their homes at exorbitant prices and sell if they get an offer, or stay if it doesn’t meet their expectation, Whitney said. Sales are depressed, particularly at the middle and lower tiers of the market, whereas luxury is sort of carried by all-cash offers, she added. “Something has got to give in the regular market,” Whitney said. “I think you’re going to start to see home prices go down.”

“For homes to be affordable, that’s going to have to happen,” she added. Whitney said she wrote a letter to whoever won the presidential election, telling them they have to let home prices drop, and it wouldn’t be the end of the world, for one, because “demand may be overstated.” (She didn’t provide any other details on the letter.)

In an interview with Fortune earlier this year, Whitney said she sees home prices falling 30% partly because young, single men are living at home, playing video games.

Posted in Crisis, Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, Humor, National Real Estate | 170 Comments

Home Insurance Spiking Across US

Posted on November 17, 2024 by grim

From Fast Company:

The housing market’s home insurance shock, as told by an interactive map

Over the past few years, many housing markets have experienced a home insurance shock. Part of this is due to insurance models reassessing disaster risks, while much of it stems from rising housing and construction costs. Replacement and repair costs have soared, and insurers are trying to keep pace, though some state insurance commissions are slowing the process.

To better understand what has happened to home insurance across the country, ResiClub reached out to economists Benjamin Keys, a professor of real estate economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and Philip Mulder, a professor of insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This summer, they published a paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), conducting their analysis using raw data from CoreLogic.

They found that the three-year shift in the median annual U.S. home insurance premium from 2020 to 2023 was 33%. That’s a bit above the three-year shift in U.S. home prices from December 2020 to December 2023 (28%).

“We find that premiums have risen sharply since 2020, that this growth has been concentrated in disaster-prone ZIP codes, and that elevated reinsurance costs are a critical driver of the increase,” wrote Keys and Mulder in their NBER paper.

Among the 500 largest U.S. counties, these 15 counties saw the biggest three-year increase in median home insurance premiums from 2020 to 2023. Nine of them are in Florida:

Prince William County, Virginia: 150.2%
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana: 117.8%
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana: 90.8%
Weber County, Utah: 86.4%
Flagler County, Florida: 79.7%
Martin County, Florida: 77.9%
Santa Rosa County, Florida: 76.7%
Escambia County, Florida: 74.2%
Lee County, Florida: 72.2%
Utah County, Utah: 71.6%
Marion County, Florida: 70.9%
Okaloosa County, Florida: 70.1%
Guilford County, North Carolina: 70.1%
St. Lucie County, Florida: 65.7%
Manatee County, Florida: 64.7%

Posted in National Real Estate | 68 Comments

Basement Voters Swing Election?

Posted on November 15, 2024 by grim

From Fortune:

Top real-estate CEO suggests some young people might have voted for Trump because they’re sick of living in their parents’ basements

“The young voters who, after years living in their parents’ basement, swung right in this election, will expect President Trump to act as America’s real estate developer in chief, and build the housing that they need,” Redfin chief executive Glenn Kelman wrote Wednesday in a note titled: “Way-Too-Early Take: What Trump’s Re-Election Could Mean for Housing.”

In a prior interview, Kelman told me, “Biden’s basic problem with millennials is how optimistic can you be about the economy from your parents’ basement?” That was, of course, before President Joe Biden dropped out of this year’s race, before Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s candidate, and before Trump won it all.

Home prices soared during the pandemic because people could work and live from anywhere, and mortgage rates were lower than they’d ever been. When inflation became a real hot problem, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, indirectly lifting mortgage rates. Americans were left with high home prices and high mortgage rates—and still are, to an extent. Some people can’t buy homes, and others won’t sell them and lose their low mortgage rate: That’s why sales are depressed. Also, after years of underbuilding—and in some cases, decades of policy failure—there aren’t enough homes to go around.

But Trump can maybe fix that, according to Kelman, by “setting aside well-meaning regulations on home-building that limit construction and make housing less affordable,” he said, partly referring to “environmental reviews in already well-settled areas, and limits on apartment buildings in neighborhoods of single-family homes.”

It isn’t up to the federal government, though; it’s all up to states and localities, who pretty much control development via land-use regulations, but Trump could create incentives for them to get housing built. “Many of America’s problems are hard to solve, but this one isn’t, especially for a president who loves construction,” Kelman said. Trump was once a real-estate scion, after all.

So far, in the week since the former president has become the president-elect, demand in the housing world has leaped by one measure: Demand from home-buyers requesting service through Redfin’s site was about 25% higher this weekend than the same weekend last year, the largest year-over-year jump since things started to go south two years ago. “Some buyers are undoubtedly enthusiastic about a Trump economy; others may have been waiting to make major decisions until after the election,” Kelman said.

Posted in Crisis, Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate | 91 Comments

Florida falls first?

Posted on November 13, 2024 by grim

From the NY Post:

Florida’s crumbling home prices haven’t been this bad since 2011

Florida’s sun-soaked southwestern coast, known for its wealthy enclaves and retirement appeal, is grappling with the steepest home price drops in more than a decade.

From Sarasota’s luxury listings to Punta Gorda’s booming developments, property values have fallen at rates not seen since the post-recession days of 2011.

Despite rising home prices across most of the US, certain Southeast metros, especially in Florida, are bucking the trend.

Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) paints a grim picture. The Punta Gorda area witnessed a 6.5% price drop this past quarter, pulling the median down to $350,000. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton wasn’t far behind with a 5.8% fall, pushing median prices to $485,000.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers also recorded a 3.7% dip, adding to earlier declines this year. Economist Lawrence Yun from NAR highlighted a cocktail of challenges pressuring the market, including increased housing supply, skyrocketing insurance premiums and accelerated construction in recent years.
…
Florida isn’t alone in this reversal. San Antonio, Texas, and Durham, North Carolina — cities that saw their real estate boom with over 20% gains two years ago — are now facing price corrections.

And while national home prices inched up by 3.1% in the third quarter, with the median hitting $418,700, the pace of growth is slowing, indicating that affordability is still a major concern in many places.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 139 Comments

Seller and Buyer Profiles

Posted on November 12, 2024 by grim

From the NAR:

Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2024

First-time home buyers in the last year shrunk to an historic low of just 24 percent of all buyers. Prior to 2008, the share of first-time buyers had a historical norm of 40 percent. In the last two years, first-time home buyer household income has grown by $26,000. This year’s report shows that the median household income of first-time home buyers was $97,000. Underscoring the hurdles to entering the housing market, first-time home buyers’ median age reached an all-time high of 38 years old. In the 1980s, the typical first-time home buyer was in their late 20s.

The housing market appears bifurcated between repeat home buyers and first-time home buyers. Repeat buyers can enter the housing market with large downpayments (median of 23 percent), and 31 percent paid cash and did not finance their home. This is likely due to the increase in housing equity. If repeat home buyers are financing their home purchase, a larger downpayment helps to offset their mortgage payment due to the higher mortgage interest rate they could have. For repeat buyers, this is the highest downpayment seen since 2003. This year, downpayments also grew for first-time buyers, as they may need to make a more substantial offer among all-cash buyers. The typical downpayment for first-time buyers was nine percent, which is the highest share since 1997.

Repeat buyers also have the highest median age seen in the report’s history of 61. As half of repeat home buyers are over the age of 61, they are driven by the desire to purchase a home to be closer to friends and family at 17 percent. It should be noted that while this is the top reason to purchase a home, neighborhood preferences have also changed. Among all buyers, the quality of the neighborhood (59 percent) and convenience to friends and family (45 percent) are the top neighborhood factors.

Convenience to the home buyer’s job has declined incrementally and is now at 34 percent, down from 38 percent last year and down from 52 percent in 2014.

Overall, 83 percent of buyers were White/Caucasian, up from 81 percent last year. However, among first-time buyers, 36 percent are non-white home buyers. Nine percent of all buyers were born outside the U.S., which is true for 13 percent of first-time home buyers.

Among all home buyers, 62 percent are married couples, 20 percent are single women, and eight percent are single men. Multi-generational living remains popular, with an all-time high of 17 percent of all buyers purchasing a home that will house different generations. The most common reasons are for cost savings, elder care, and young adults moving back. The share of buyers with children under the age of 18 dropped to the lowest level seen at 27 percent of all buyers.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, National Real Estate | 55 Comments

No Crash?

Posted on November 11, 2024 by grim

From Bankrate:

Is the housing market going to crash? What the experts are saying

The U.S. housing market had finally started slowing in late 2022, and home prices seemed poised for a correction. But a strange thing happened on the way to the housing market crash: Home values started rising again. So much for the now-quaint notion that the post-pandemic “housing recession” would reverse some of the outsized price gains in homes.

In another reflection of ongoing increases, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price indexfor August was up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, another all-time high.

Despite prices being high, though, the volume of home sales has plunged, and inventories are still too low to meet demand. Homeowners who locked in 3 percent mortgage rates several years ago are declining to sell — and who can blame them, with current rates more than double that? — so the supply of homes for sale is staying tight. As a result, any correction will be nothing like the utter collapse of property prices during the Great Recession, when some housing markets experienced a 50 percent cratering of values.

“Even with the rapid price appreciation over the last few years, the likelihood of a market crash is minimal,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a November 2024 statement. “Distressed property sales and the number of people defaulting on mortgage payments are both at historic lows.”
…
The main driver of record home prices is a one-two punch straight from Econ 101 — a lack of housing supply coupled with strong demand. Inventories have been growing but remain frustratingly tight, with NAR’s September data showing a 4.3-month supply. Not even high mortgage rates have slowed price appreciation. For instance, in October 2023, home values held steady even as mortgage rates soared to 8 percent, their highest level in more than 23 years.

They have since dipped, but not enough to make a meaningful difference (despite the Fed’s rate cuts). The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage in Bankrate’s weekly survey released Nov. 6 was 7.0 percent.

“You’re not going to see house prices decline,” says Rick Arvielo, head of mortgage firm New American Funding. “There’s just not enough inventory.”

Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow, agrees. “We’re not in that space where things are suddenly going to be more affordable,” she says.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 63 Comments

Inventory Up, Prices Up

Posted on November 8, 2024 by grim

From NorthJersey.com:

North Jersey real estate saw more new home listings, but higher prices, in October

New Jersey’s real estate market saw more new home listings and properties staying on the market longer in October, but also increasing home prices.

Overall, October marked the 12th consecutive month of inventory growth across the nation, reported Realtor.com. With 29.2% more homes actively for sale than at this time last year, the number of homes actively for sale is the highest it has been since December 2019.

Homes for sale across the nation stayed on the market for about 58 days, which is eight more days than at this time last year and three more days than last month, Realtor.com said. That made this past month the slowest October in five years.

As for interest rates, the median rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.88% as of Oct. 31, the Wall Street Journal reported. And the median interest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6%.

This is how North Jersey’s real estate market performed in October, data from Realtor.com showed.
…
In North Jersey, the counties of Bergen, Morris and Hudson all had more new listings in October than at this time last year. And the counties of Passaic, Essex and Sussex had a decrease in new listings compared with this time last year.

Bergen: 756 (4.71%).
Passaic: 294 (-0.68%).
Morris: 494 (28.65%).
Essex: 390 (-1.52%).
Sussex: 180 (-18.18%).
Hudson: 382 (1.6%).
…
Of New Jersey’s 21 counties, 17 had an increase in median listing prices from October 2023. And when compared with September 2024, 14 counties had an increase in median listing prices.
In North Jersey, Hudson was the only county to see a decrease in median listing prices compared with this time last year. Hudson County had a 0.01% decrease, with a median listing price of $649,947. Otherwise, all other North Jersey counties saw prices increase.
Bergen: $779,500 (0%).
Passaic: $549,333 (15.66%).
Morris: $738,422 (7.41%).
Essex: $571,000 (12.4%).
Sussex: $427,500 (7.04%).

Posted in Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 90 Comments

Fed Cuts!

Posted on November 7, 2024 by grim

From CNBC:

Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by a quarter point

The Federal Reserve approved its second consecutive interest rate cut Thursday, moving at a less aggressive pace than before but continuing its efforts to rightsize monetary policy.

In a follow-up to September’s big half percentage point reduction, the Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points, to a target range of 4.50%-4.75%. The rate sets what banks charge each other for overnight lending but often influences consumer debt instruments such as mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.

Markets had widely expected the move, which was telegraphed both at the September meeting and in follow-up remarks from policymakers since then. The vote was unanimous, unlike the previous move that saw the first “no” vote from a Fed governor since 2005. This time, Governor Michelle Bowman went along with the decision.

The post-meeting statement reflected a few tweaks in how the Fed views the economy. Among them was an altered view in how it assesses the effort to bring down inflation while supporting the labor market.

“The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” the document stated, a change from September when it noted “greater confidence” in the process.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Mortgages, National Real Estate | 17 Comments

Who is better for housing?

Posted on November 5, 2024 by grim

From Mansion Global:

Housing Was a Factor for About 40% of Early Voters in the U.S. Presidential Election

For U.S. adults who voted in the presidential election by Nov. 1, about two in five said the housing market was a factor in their decision, according to a report from Redfin on Monday.

Of the 1,002 early voters surveyed, 38% said housing affordability affected their choice for president, while 40% said it was a factor in their local races.

Kamala Harris voters were more likely to cite housing affordability as a concern than Donald Trump voters, with 43% of early Harris voters reporting that it impacted their decision, compared with 29% of Trump voters who said the same.

Homes in blue areas of the U.S. tend to be much more expensive than red areas, which is likely a reason why Harris voters were more concerned with the housing market than Trump voters, according to Redfin.

Of the 14 issues Redfin surveyed early voters about, housing affordability ranked 12th, having more weight than only climate change (36% of voters said it was a factor) and access to gender affirming care (19%).

The economy was the top concern among those who already voted, with 63% saying it impacted their choice for president. Inflation was No. 2 at 59%, followed by protecting democracy (56%).

About one-third of the survey respondents believe mortgage rates will fall if Trump is elected, while 23% think they’ll drop if Harris is elected. Additionally, 32% think rates will increase under a Harris presidency, while 28% believe they’d rise if Trump wins.

Posted in National Real Estate, Politics | 167 Comments

Make me move

Posted on November 4, 2024 by grim

From CNET:

Most Homebuyers Won’t Budge Until Mortgage Rates Drop to 4%, CNET Survey Finds

A recent CNET survey found that half of US adults say lower mortgage rates would make them realistically consider purchasing a house. If average mortgage rates were to fall to 4% or below, that rate could potentially unlock the housing market.

Except bargain mortgage rates aren’t likely in the near term. And experts say it would take a severe economic downturn for mortgage rates to reach the record lows we saw during the pandemic.

After peaking above 8% in late 2023, average mortgage rates have been in the mid-6% range for a while. They could drop close to 6% by the end of the year, but that’s still not enough to draw buyers off the sidelines. A mere 4% of US adults would realistically consider purchasing a home or refinancing their mortgage at a 6% rate.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Mortgages, National Real Estate | 52 Comments