November 10, 2023

A MARKET UPDATE

By Kevin Kern

Risking the possibility of sounding like my irreparably scratched vinyl copy of Against the Wind, allow me to say once again that we continue to find ourselves in a market of falling inventory and rising prices.  Rates have fluctuated in and above the 7% range which has caused many homeowners to continue to do the Horizontal Bop in their current 3% digs.  But many buyers are not letting that stand in their way because at least rates aren't as high as they were when Bob Seger released his masterpiece album in 1980!  The end result is that a somewhat smaller pool of buyers continues to pay a premium to live in the Fire Lake that is SOMA.  Ok I’ll stop.


The best illustration of this can be found in a few key stats from last month’s Market Report [insert link].  Maplewood’s year over year Total Homes Sold dropped over 12% to 31 sales.  In South Orange, that same data point dropped 18% to just 25 homes sold.  And it’s not like last August was a banner time!  Interest rates had spiked considerably in the months leading up to Labor Day of last year and buyers and sellers alike were starting to hunker down.  But the buyers came back in droves through 2023 even as low inventory pushed prices higher.


Which brings us to the other part of this tricky equation.  The average home sold in Maplewood in August of 2023 went 13% over list for a sale price of $872K.  The average home sold in South Orange in that same period went 18% over asking and closed at an eye popping price of $1.08M.  Take that in.  South Orange’s average home price last month was over a million dollars.  To break that down further, of the 25 homes sold in August, 15 of them closed at $999K or higher.  Buyers might still be runnin’ against the wind…but in our area they are not getting off their horses just yet!   

 

Suggested Blogs