Summary of Real Estate Housing Market Conditions

The following Summary of the Real Estate housing market conditions and activities was obtained from the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development's Website on 1/25/2011. The report provides an overview of economic and housing market trends within each region of HUD management.

The New York/New Jersey HUD Region II, as pertains to Real Estate, provided that “Conditions in most sales housing markets in the New York/New Jersey region are improving but remain slightly soft because of weak economic conditions. According to the National Association of Realtors, home sales in the region during the second quarter of 2010, increased by 80,000 homes, or 22 percent, from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 434,900 homes sold. ...In New Jersey, home sales markets are slightly soft. Home sales have recently increased, a trend that began in December 2009, but home prices remain relatively flat in most areas....The median sales price in New Jersey remained nearly unchanged at $306,600 during the 12 months ending June 2010. All three regions of the state reported increased home sales and slightly higher home prices. For the 12 months ending June 2010, Southern New Jersey home sales rose 17 percent to 32,700 homes, and the median price increased nearly 4 percent to $208,900. In Northern New Jersey, existing single-family home sales were up 24 percent to 61,500 homes, and the median price increased 1 percent to $374,400. Existing single-family homes sales in Central New Jersey increased 26 percent to 33,600 and the median price increased 1 percent to $314,300......During the 12 months ending September 2010 , increased home sales in the New York/New Jersey region contributed to an increase in single-family home building activity, and multifamily construction began to show signs of improvement compared with the activity during the same period a year earlier...”