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-- Real Estate - Overview

Real estate
*  Overview  ​*  Government Regulation  ​*   Associations
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Oldest NJ house PictureBuilt between 1638 and 1641 by Finnish settlers in colony of New Sweden, log home claimed to be oldest existing log building in US and oldest standing wooden structure in the Western hemisphere located in what is now Gibbstown section of Greenwich Township in Gloucester County. Image: Wikimedia Commons
-- Historical overview
     
 
       Since its first settlement by Europeans, real estate has been at the center of New Jersey's economic and political evolution. Both the Dutch and the English used land grants as incentives to attract settlers to their colonies, and for many years as a Royal colony disputes over land titles provoked conflict--and occasional violence--dividing those within its towns and villages and sparking opposition to its rule by agents appointed from abroad.

​      
       In the first half of nineteenth century, the state's strategic location between New York City and Philadelphia fueled its growth, leading to the development of industry and housing along the corridor connecting the fast-growing cities. Following the Civil War, New Jersey's position at the gateway for European immigration sparked further expansion and development into the next century. With the introduction of the automobile, communities outside the older cities began to emerge as what would become the pattern of New Jersey suburbanization, later spurring the surge in housing for the new families formed after the end of World War II. More recently, the impact of a densely-populated state and concerns for protecting environmental resources, have produced sharp debates on the use of increasingly limited available land and the consequences of its high costs of development and taxation.

--Value and total construction

       The New Jersey Association of Realtors reported that as of August 2022 the average sale price in the state during 2022 for a single family home was $596,425; for a townhouse/condo $433,988; and for an adult community unit  $335,442. The average time from listing to sale for a single-family home was 35 days, and sale prices were 101.7% of the price listed for sale.

       As of August 2022, the national real estate site Zillow.com reported that the typical home value of ho$mes in New Jersey was $471,472--a value  seasonally adjusted and only including the middle price tier of homes. The median rent price in New Jersey was $2,424 / per month.  As of 2021, New Jersey had a total aggregate value of real property exceeding $1.134 trillion, according to annual data published by the New Jersey Division of Taxation.

       Building permits in New Jersey peaked at nearly 40,000 units in 2005, before experiencing a steady decline over the following years. In 2022, there were 15,789 housing units issued by permits for the year through June.

*  Monthly Housing Report, New Jersey Association of Realtors
* 
Table of Equalized Valuations by County 1998-2020, New Jersey Division of Taxation
*  Building Permits Yearly Summary Data, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
   

   -- Office leasing and construction

       After the downturn of the 2008 recession, office leasing in the state has recovered to reach a statewide vacancy rate of approximately 15% before the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. The strongest markets were near New York City, with demand highest for offices for legal, computer and financial services tenants.
  
*   Building Permits: Yearly Summary Data, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
*  New Jersey Home Prices & Values, Zillow
*  Monthly Indicators, New Jersey Association of Realtors

House under construction Princeton Picture
Home under construction in Princeton. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

-- Mortgages

      Mortgage rates in New Jersey are available from individual lending institutions, along with averages posted online by national web sites such as LendingTree.com, BankRate.com and Zillow.com. New Jersey mortgage rates, according to BankRate.com, averaged as of October 2022 around 6% for a 30-year fixed loan. Rates had increased sharply in the first half of 2022 as a result of increases in the prime rate by the Federal Reserve after being at extremely low historical levels for the years following the 2007 fiscal crisis. 
*  New Jersey Mortgage Lenders-Reviews and Ratings, BankRate.com
*  Best Mortgage Lenders Money.com
​
Picture
 Let's discuss your real estate needs at the Jersey Shore in Monmouth  County!  
I'm Mary Comfort at PatrickParkerRealty.com, your one-stop source for  real estate.

Email Me
- Rental market

       New Jersey ranked as the seventh most expensive location for U.S. renters in 2022, according to report published by the nonprofit Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. Only Hawaii, California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington and the District of Columbia are more expensive. Statewide, rentals of two-bedroom apartments averaged $1,972 a month. Hudson County is the most expensive area in the state to rent. Hunterdon, Middlesex and Somerset are also among the most expensive counties, with an average monthly rent of $1,851 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to the study. In order to afford that level of rent plus utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a New Jersey household must earn $5,428 monthly or $65,137 annually, the report said.

       New Jersey had slightly under 1.1 million renters in 2021, making up  nearly 36% of New Jersey households according to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. As of April 2022, according to the website  rent.com, rental for an average one-bedroom apartment in the state was $2,396 per month--an increase by nearly 33% since April 2021. In Jersey City, the average increase was some 50% to an average of  $3,943 monthly, the nation's biggest jump in rental prices between 2021 and 2022, an increase topped only by New York City. Median monthly gross rent as a fraction of median household income was 20% in the state, according to the Census Bureau.
*  Out of Reach 2021, National Low Income Housing Coalition

*  New Jersey Home Prices & Values, Zillow
*  Rent Prices Increased By More Than $1,000 in the Past Year in These Major Cities, 5/24/2022, Rent.com
*  
Fact Sheet: Out of Reach New Jersey 2022, Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
*  N.J. has the 7th highest rents in the nation, report says. Here’s what a typical apartment costs, 7/28/2022, NJ.com (subscription)
​
-- Foreclosure
            
       When a homeowner fails to make a mortgage payment, the mortgage is delinquent and the lender may initiate the steps in the foreclosure process. A foreclosing party must send a notice of intention to foreclose, by registered or certified mail, to the borrower 30 days before filing a foreclosure lawsuit.      

       Unlike several other states, New Jersey mandates that foreclosures go through the state court system, which substantially increases the time and costs of the process. The federal housing arm Freddie Mac has estimated the time in New Jersey for completing the foreclosure process from filing the notice to sale of the property at 450 to 600 days, tied with Florida as the lengthiest in the nation.


       With a foreclosure rate of one in every 4,868 homes as of August 2021, New Jersey had the third highest rate among the states, behind only Illinois and Nevada..Of the state's 3,616,614 housing units, 743 went into foreclosure in August. The counties with the most foreclosures per housing unit were (from highest to lowest): Salem, Gloucester, Atlantic, Monmouth, and Cumberland.

       Foreclosure actions are filed in the clerk's office of foreclosure of the Superior Court, Chancery Division, General Equity Part in Trenton. New Jersey has a statutory right of redemption, which allows a party whose property has been foreclosed to reclaim that property by making payment in full of the sum of the unpaid loan plus cost within ten days after the foreclosure sale.
*   Foreclosure Rates for All 50 States, Sofi.com
*   Top Foreclosure States, Bankrate.com
​*   Foreclosure Trends, RealtyTrac.com
*   Summary of New Jersey Foreclosure Laws, Nolo.com

                                   
-- Affordable housing

        In 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court held in its decision of Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Mount Laurel Township that the state Constitution prohibited municipalities from using their planning and zoning powers to prevent the development of housing affordable for low and moderate income families. After a series of subsequent decisions by the Supreme Court and lower courts, in 1985 the legislature enacted the Fair Housing Act creating an agency, the Council on Affordable Housing, directed to establish the number of affordable housing units required for each municipality and how the goal could be satisfied. More recently, after Governor Christie stated his unwillingness to enforce the affordable housing program, the state Supreme Court directed that the lower courts again assume jurisdiction in implementing the goals of the Mount Laurel decision. 

       According to the annual NJ Counts report prepared
by the nonprofit Monarch Housing Associates for the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency, there were 8,754 persons experiencing homelessness living in emergency shelters, motels, transitional housing, or without shelter on the street statewide on a single night (January 25, 2022). African Americans were disproportionately represented, accounting for 48% of those counted even though only 12% of the state’s population is Black.

       Affordable housing is now promoted through state programs subsidizing housing that has lower rents such as the state Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. Some other programs include senior or disabled housing such as Section 202 or 811, housing with project vouchers, public housing, tax credit projects, rural housing, and multifamily housing including Section 236 and Section 8 housing. New Jersey also has voucher programs that provide a subsidy to help an individual pay towards rent in any apartment that meets the program's qualifications of being safe and affordable. Common voucher programs include Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8), VASH (veterans), NED (non-elderly-disabled), NED-2 (non-elderly disabled transitioning from an institution) and SRAP (state rental assistance program).
*  Affordable Housing in New Jersey, NJ Department of Human Services
*  Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Mount Laurel Township
*  NJ Counts 2022, Monarch Associates


-- Property taxes

       All real property and tangible personal property located in the state of New Jersey is subject to property tax unless specifically exempted by statute. Real property taxes are assessed and collected by the assessors and collectors of the respective municipalities  but are subject to appeals to the county boards of taxation.

       In 2021, New Jersey's average residential property tax bill, was $9,284, up $172, or 1.88%, compared to 2020, according to annual data released by the state Department of Community Affairs. Nearly $31 billion in revenue was raised through local property taxes to support spending by county and municipal governments and school districts. Counties with the highest average taxes were Essex, $12,736; Bergen, $12,192; Union, $12,075; Morris, $10,870; Somerset, $10,272; Passaic, $10,247; and Hunterdon, $10,176.. School taxes accounted for over half of the statewide property tax levy. .

*   Average Property Tax Bills 2009-2020, New Jersey Division of Taxation
*   Property Tax Information, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
*   Table of Equalized Valuations by County 1998-2020, New Jersey Division of Taxation
*   New Jersey Taxes, Bankrate.com
-- Residential Developers
      
        New Jersey's residential housing market features a diverse variety of builders, from national firms to individual builders constructing single family homes. The state's largest homebuilder is Hovnanian Enterprises (which markets homes and residential communities under brand 
K. Hovnanian® Homes) founded in 1959 by the late Kevork Hovnanian, which also has operations in 15 other states, including New York, Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California. Toll Brothers, the nation's largest luxury homebuilder based in Pennsylvania with homes in 24 states, is also active in New Jersey, specializing in upscale single-family homes and multi-family condominium projects. Lennar, one of the nation's largest builders, has several multi-family and active adult communities in New Jersey.

*  New Jersey Builders Association
*  Monthly Housing Market Statistics, New Jersey Association of Realtors
*  Guide to Affordable Housing, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs

-- Nonresidential developers

       In 2018, approximately $7.4 billion in new or expanded nonresidential construction was approved by building permits in New Jersey, slightly less than half of total construction spending. The market in New Jersey for new and expanded office and industrial development was adversely impacted by the fiscal crisis which began in 2008, and has struggled to regain the level of activity it had attained prior to the recession. Cutbacks in financial services, pharmaceuticals and information services have been particularly severe, while areas of strength continue to be mixed-use office and residential projects.

       Major nonresidential developers and real estate investment trusts active in New Jersey include The Rockefeller Group; 
SJP Properties; Matrix Development Group; Advance Realty; Hampshire Companies; Mack-Cali Realty Corp. 
(rebranded as Veris Residential, Inc. in December 2021); Alfred Sanzari Enterprises;  and The Stro Companies.
     

        The leading trade group representing the interests of the nonresidential building industry is NAIOP-New Jersey (formerly National Association of Industrial and Office Parks-NJ), the state chapter of the national commercial real estate development association. The New Jersey Alliance for Action is a coalition of construction industry, labor unions, financial services firms and others which supports economic development through the promotion of capital construction and infrastructure investment. More specific interests include the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey, which represents firms in heavy, highway, site, utility and environmental remediation construction; Labor unions supporting construction include the New Jersey Laborers Union; Heavy & General Construction Laborers Local 172; and Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters. Media tracking policy developments and individual project  financing and deals include RealEstateNJ, 'Voice of the Commercial Real Estate Industry'.
*  Estimated Cost of Construction Authorized by Building Permits, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
*  NAIOP-New Jersey
*  RealEstateNJ, 'Voice of the Commercial Real Estate Industry'   
*  New Jersey Alliance for Action
*  Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey


      
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