Northwest Bergen County is composed of 13 towns: Allendale, Franklin Lakes, Glen Rock, Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah, Midland Park, Oakland, Ramsey, Ridgewood, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Waldwick and Wyckoff. New Jersey taxes are generally high compared to other areas of the state, and Bergen County certainly ranks on the high side. On the other hand, Bergen County is known for its better than average school systems, and that's the top requirement when buyers are searching for a home. This is the reason Bergen County housing prices haven't plummeted as much as other towns in NJ.
I remember being surprised when I started my career, 23 years ago, and one of my first clients was from California. As we spoke, he said he was surprised New Jersey's taxes were about the same as those in California. Whle it wasn't difficult for me to imagine taxes in California being high --- gorgeoeus weather, beaches, beautiful homes, god schools --- it astonished me that NJ's taxes were comparable. No disrespect to NJ, but I'd certainly rather live in CA! Anyway, back to the housing situation in New Jersey.
For the last six years, we've all watched home prices drop precipitously, and activity slow almost to a halt. Suddenly, this year something has changed. People point to low interest rates, but we've had very low rates for at least 3 years, and that didn't do much for home sales. Th Presidential race certainly hasn't imbued voters with renewed confidence in the economy. The job market appears, at least in NJ, to be improving, and that combined with low interest rates may have given buyers the boost in confidence they needed to come out of hiding.
The luxury market is one that suffered most, after 2006, especially in town like Franklin Lakes and Saddle River. The stats on first quarter sales this year, in both towns, has imporved a great deal --- not to the degree I had hoped, but significantly.
It will be interesting to see if my prediction comes to fruition: I think we have seen the end of the proliferation of 7,000+sf homes, and will see more homes in the 4k-6k sf range. Here in NW Bergen County, we are seeing moe young buyers than ever. These couples seem to be more interested in having a summer home/more vacations/ski houses and the like than living in a 10k sf home with all its attendent responsibilities. I'm more than curious to see how that demographic changes things in the housing market.
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