As we shared in the first quarter review, the real estate market has been a bit slow this year…and things did not pick up as much as expected in the second quarter. Now this doesn’t mean there hasn’t been great opportunities, but it’s not as widespread as experts thought it could have been.

In this post, we’re going to take a closer look at the second quarter numbers for several different counties. You’ll see that everyone is experiencing this lull in the market when compared to last year – but as much in some places as there is in others. You’ll see what we mean below

CHESTER COUNTY MARKET UPDATE:

In 2022, we had far more listings and settlements across each of the 3 months of the 2nd quarter. When compared to the 5-year average, these stats still fall short:

• April: 746 New Listings & 484 Closed Sales

• May: 857 New Listings & 534 Closed Sales

• June: 891 New Listings & 706 Closed Sales

 Unsurprisingly, the historically low inventory caused home sales prices to jump significantly as shown above. Let’s take the same metric and compare these median sales prices to the 5-year average for each month:

• April: $408,376 Median Sold Price

• May: $429,860 Median Sold Price

• June: $445,844 Median Sold Price

 While it’s expected that the demand for homes increases the sales price, these numbers are much higher than in usual seller’s markets. Why? Well, it’s for a couple of reasons but two main ones come to mind:

1. We’ve been experiencing a strong seller’s market for the past year or so, meaning that we were starting from a high threshold to begin with.

2. The cost for everything has gone up and housing materials, repairs, and other similar expenses were no exception.

For this reason, we saw an increase in the number of days on the market in comparison to last year – while buyers REALLY want to purchase a home, they are cautious about the purchase they will be making since the prices are so much higher than in recent years.

DELAWARE COUNTY MARKET UPDATE:

Delaware County followed the same patterns as Chester County – and that includes the 5-year average comparison. The number of new listings and closed sales are under the average and the median sold prices are significantly higher. Here are the specifics:

• April: 728 New Listings & 503 Closed Sales

• May: 819 New Listings & 558 Closed Sales

• June: 848 New Listings & 673 Closed Sales

• April: $279,180Median Sold Price

• May: $284,290 Median Sold Price

• June: $303,200 Median Sold Price

Again, last year homes sold faster than in the current market but it’s not by a significant number. As stated in Chester County breakdown, this isn’t surprising considering the high sales prices. Demand isn’t the problem, it’s the expense. So, if you’re selling in either county, it’s important to remember that buyers are going to be more cautious and have higher expectations for the sale – that means you need to make sure you’re ready before you take it onto the market. (By the way…that’s something we specialize in!)

In New Jersey, the housing market is also experiencing a decline in listings, which of course means number of closed sales as well, with an increase in the home sale sales price – just not to the same degree as in Pennsylvania. Look at the Year-to-Date Stats here compared to this YTD stats from last year.

CAPE MAY COUNTY MARKET UPDATE

Based on these stats, it’s not clear which type of housing is in higher demand in Cape May County. Single family homes have a higher median sales price increase than townhouses/condos given the lack of inventory, though not by much. And while the number of closed sales is expected to be lower due to the low inventory, it’s 32% LOWER than this time last year for townhomes/condos. On the other hand, single-family homes are staying on the market 50% LONGER than this time last year. This means that no matter what type of home you’re looking to buy or sell, you’ll have a similar level of competition.

ATLANTIC COUNTY MARKET UPDATE

In Atlantic County, townhomes/condos have the edge in demand. While inventory and closed sales are also down, it’s at a lower percentage than for single-family homes AND the median sales price jumped much higher than compared to single-family. The only caveat is that they are on the market longer than single-family homes. Just something to keep in mind if you’re selling or buying in this area!

OCEAN COUNTY MARKET UPDATE

Everything in Ocean County is down. Both single-family and townhouses/condos have about the same percentage of inventory and closed sales lacking. And while home prices for both are up, it’s not by much (3% for single family & 6.2% for townhouse/condos). The only real difference is that single-family homes are on the market for longer so you could say townhouses/condos have n an edge but, it’s not by much. Your expectation for selling in this county should be that the demand/competition is not as strong as in other areas, so you’ll need to be smart with how you prepare, list, and advertise/market your home. (You know who to call 😉!)

Interesting Development Across These Counties

One thing to note that these stats don’t show you are the numbers for Adult Community homes – and the YTD numbers are surprising:

CAPE MAY COUNTY

• 31 New Listings (+19.2%)

• 24 Closed Sales (0.0%)

• 51 Days on Market (+218.8%)

• $327,450 Median Sales Price (+5.6%)

ATLANTIC COUNTY

• 173 New Listings (+50.4%)

• 152 Closed Sales (+49.0%)

• 53 Days on Market (+55.9%)

• $317,000 Median Sales Price (+3.1%)

OCEAN COUNTY

• 2,231 New Listings (-4.3%)

• 1,686 Closed Sales (-9.3%)

• 43 Days on Market (+43.3%)

• $280,000 Median Sales Price (+3.7%)

If you’re looking for a 55+ community/retirement home by the beach, you’ll find some great opportunities in this market in most of the shore counties!

With inflation, variable interest rates, and the recent trends, experts believe the rest of 2023 will have a similar trend. The market will get more active month over month until we hit the usual decline time (aka winter/bad weather season) unless something drastically changes in our economic make-up. If you’re someone who’s been hesitant to buy or sell, you’ve had good reason to” but, it’s important to note that waiting isn’t going to change very much. It’ll take a long time for the necessary changes to really impact the market, which you may not have time for.

So, before you give up completely, talk to our team. We’ll talk out your needs and wants, dive deeper into your individual market base, and develop a short- & long-term strategy so you can feel comfortable with buying or selling in the next few months or so.

Cite: The Pennsylvania statistics all brought to you by Suburban West Realtors Association: https://tcsr.realtor/industry-info-expertise/local-market-statistics/

And The New Jersey statistics from: https://www.njrealtor.com/research/10k/