Real Estate news continues to flood the media. Nationally and at the state level, the news has been disconcerting to most. The following statistics about homes sales in Millburn and Short Hills will shed some light on what went on in our local real estate market in 2008. These figures are according to the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS).
A look at important indicators shows a mixed bag of results in the township. In contrast to other parts of New Jersey and the U.S., the inventory of unsold homes on the market here has stayed very low and even fallen at some points during the year. The year ended with only 69 homes being listed on the GSMLS. This is much lower than in previous years. The low inventory has helped keep the selling prices somewhat more stable than elsewhere.
In Millburn and Short Hills last year the average selling price dropped just less than 6%. The overall New Jersey price drop was expected to be at around 12% statewide, so our township seems to have fared much better than the early reports for New Jersey on the whole. In 2008 the average selling price was around $1,216,000 as compared to $1,293,000 in 2007.
The overall number of homes that traded in Millburn and Short Hills in 2008 showed a 15% decline over the previous year. 307 homes were sold in 2007 and 260 homes sold in 2008. As might be expected the homes that continued to sell at the best rate were homes with asking prices under $1 million dollars. A nearly equal number of homes sold in that range over this period with 149 selling in 2007 and 141 selling in 2008. In the $1-$2 million dollar range the number of homes sold dropped from 110 to 85. The most expensive homes, those over $2 million showed the largest decline dropping from 50 in 2007 to 36 last year. The most expensive home in 2007 was 180 Highland Avenue which sold for $5,600,000. In 2008 a slightly pricier home was the most expensive one traded. This was 71 Hillside which sold for $6,065,000.
The good news for sellers is that most homes are actually taking less time on the market to sell than they did a year ago. In 2008 the average number of days that a home was on the market was 52, whereas in 2007 it generally took 62 days to get a house sold. This is most likely due to the fact that the inventory of available homes is low. When a motivated buyer comes along, they have less selection to choose from therefore it takes less time to house hunt. Buyers do seem to be taking more liberties in negotiating as they managed to secure sales prices at 96.7% of the asking price in 2008, down a little from 97.9% in 2007.
Are you in Millburn or Short Hills, NJ and interested in finding out what your home would sell for in today's market? Call us for a FREE, No Obligation Evaluation. 
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