New report From Coldwell Banker Says Affordable Housing is Available in NJ

If you think finding an affordable home that fits your needs in New Jersey will be a difficult task, think again.

A new nationwide report released by Coldwell Banker Real Estate shows while home prices in the Garden State are robust, there are some surprises.

The report, called the Home Listing Report (HLR), compares the average home listing price of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom property listed on coldwellbanker.com between September 2010 and March 2011. 

The HLR results reveal of the 156 New Jersey real estate markets, Newark led the list as the most affordable market in the state with an average of $170,427. The HLR results also reveal Stone Harbor in Cape May County as the state’s most expensive market, weighing in at hefty $1,344,908. Compared to the national average of $293,251, the average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in New Jersey overall was $448,817.

"This year’s home listing report is by far the most in-depth local market source of data that Coldwell Banker has ever released,” said Jim Gillespie, chief executive officer, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

“We’ve included nearly 10 times more markets than ever before, which gives us unmatched real estate insight into thousands of North American cities,’’ Gillespie added. “For instance, we can see that there are 775 U.S. markets averaging $200,000 or less for these types of aspirational homes,” he said.

Markets included in the U.S. report were required to have at least 10 properties fitting the above criteria within the relevant timeframe.

In Essex County, the next highest market for a home after Newark fell to Belleville at number 19, with the average priced four-bedroom, two-bathroom property coming in at $269,500. Essex County markets include number 44 Bloomfield, averaging $351,537, number 69, West Orange, averaging $401,874 and Montclair at number 85, averaging $448,441.

Other Essex County markets listed in the HLR include numbers 122 and 123, Maplewood and Livingston, averaging $557,375 and $557,838, respectively and concluding with Cedar Grove, with the average cost of $577,262. 

Full national data can be accessed on the Home Listing Report website. For data on New Jersey only, click here.