Market Report - Homes for Sale - Atlantic County, NJ - September 2013
Single Family
The Atlantic County Real Estate Market is showing little to no improvement as we head into the fall season. September saw a dramatic 21% increase in new listings coming on the market over September of 2012. 409 new single family homes where introduced to the market.
The number of Atlantic County single family homes for sale in the 12 month period ending September 30th is up 7% over the previous 12 month period.
Sold properties in September where down 4% with only 167 sold single family properties. This brings the current total of sold properties for the 12 month period to 1,847. Still a 1.4% decrease over the previous 12 month period.
Combined, the total number of new listings Atlantic County NJ Homes for Sale and total inventory versus the number of properties being sold has allowed the months supply of inventory to edge up to over 16 months. This denotes an extremely strong Buyers Market.
Average Days on Market is down 20.7% to just over 3 months. Days on Market only reflects the properties that have sold and not an average of the total inventory that is currently available. There are several factors contributing to this drop. More sellers realize that the market is really soft and are pricing their homes agressively in order to get them sold. Many are relocating out of state where housing costs are lower.
Another factor that is contributing to the decline is that Short Sale properties are closing considerably faster than they were a year ago. Short Sales presently represent 30+ percent of the market sales. A year ago many were taking 6 to 9 months to close. This year, if negotiatiated properly they are only taking 3 to 4 months average with some closing as fast as 5 to 6 weeks.
Median Sale Prices for this September are almost exactly the same September 2012. The 12 month Median Sale Price is up 4.8%. Median Sale prices are very unlikely to gain any traction in the Atlantic County Market. Unemployment continues to remain the highest in the State and higher than most areas of the country.
Mortgage Rates also continue to gradually climb and at this writing have reached the 5% mark. As can be seen in the below graph, we continue to stay in the same side ways price channel we've been in for the last three years.
With supply remaining high, demand light, and increasing interest rates, the Median Sale prices will have no option but to go down. When interest rates increase, buyers qualify for lower mortgages.
By Bill Wagner
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