Summer is winding down, but home values are rising

As the summer winds down, so does the housing market. It is not unusual to see a market slowdown in the middle to late summer as families vacation and take advantage of nicer weather. Although the market is slowing down for the season, home values shed a positive light on the future of Ocean County’s near future.
Despite the slow recovery, the values of home continue to rise. In July of 2013, the median sales price (the midpoint of the sales) of single family homes was $264,000, while last month the market saw a boost in the median sales price to $275,000. In July 2013, townhouse-condo sales prices were at a median of $170,000. July 2014 showed the new median sale price to be $182,500. Adult community homes had a median sales price of $150,900 last month, which was an 18.8% increase from last year’s $127,000 median sales price.
New listings for single family homes in Ocean County rose 10.7% from July of 2013 to July of 2014. Townhouses and condos saw a greater new listing increase at 28.6%, and the number of new adult community listings decreased by 1.3%. For the total market overview of Ocean County, there was a growth of 8.5% for new listings.
Single family home sellers are reporting that, in July 2014, they have received an average of 95.7% of the original list price, which is a 1.1% increase from July 2013. The number of days on the market for single family homes dropped from 99 to 90 days. Townhouse-condo sellers reported receiving an average of 96.3% of the original list price, an increase of 0.7% from last year. Townhouse-condos stayed an average of 116 days on the market; an increase from last July’s average of 89 days. Adult community home sellers reported an average of 96%, only a 0.1% decrease from the average list price received last July. Sellers reported that their homes stayed an average of 74 days on the market, which is only a small increase from last July’s average of 71 days. The total market average for number of days on the market dropped from 89 days in July 2013 to 86 days in July 2014, and the percent of the list price received overall increased by 0.6% to an average of 95.8%.
Although the housing market has slowed down in July, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the GDP grew 4%, and consumer spending rose 2.5%. As consumer spending rises and job growth becomes stronger, more qualified buyers are able to look at the current inventory of homes, which will lead to a strong market in the coming months.

Information provided by 10K Research and Marketing and reflect the statistics for Ocean County.