Monday, March 28, 2011

Current Real Estate Market Trends in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Current real estate market trends in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are a buyer’s dream.  It’s useful for buyers relocating to any city in the tri-state area  to evaluate real estate market trends in the area as a whole. Anyone relocating from the west coast, say, to Philadelphia will likely find a home in Wilmington to be within a reasonable commuting distance to the larger city. The towns of Cherry Hill, Princeton and Plainsboro in southern New Jersey also provide great neighborhoods within a comfortable commute to Philly. And equally, there are numerous people from Wilmington who commute to southern New Jersey for work.

Real estate trends in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, like the rest of the country, are not pretty. One good indicator for real estate trends in the tri-state region is the number of housing permits being issued in the area for new residential construction. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported on Monday that, in February of this year, single family residence permits declined in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey by 11.1%, 38.1% and 26.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, the rest of the country showed an average increase of just under 1%. The obvious reason for the decline in housing starts is the existing home inventory currently on the market, and the so-called shadow inventory of homes likely to be foreclosed upon, both at historic highs. When discussing real estate trends, inventory is expressed in terms of months to sell all the homes on the market.  The tri-state region has a challenging number of homes on the market. With regards to the shadow inventory alone, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have 30,29, and 51 months of inventory, respectively, to plow through. (See the url below.) A normal market would have some 7 months supply of homes currently being marketed. The shadow inventory of homes likely to come on the market due to foreclosure but not yet being marketed, however, is typically not even a point of discussion among real estate professionals in a normal market. So, needless to say, there is still significant price pressure on homes in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and southern New Jersey.

The take away from all of this is that, if you are being relocated to anywhere in the Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey tri-state area you will have a significant selection of homes to chose from.  Furthermore, sellers who are determined to sell their homes in such a glutted market will be aggressive in their pricing from the beginning. If they’re working with smart real estate professionals they will already know that prices are expected to decline further, and if they want to sell now they had better come to grips with that and market their home at a compelling price. The bottom line, if you’re relocating here you’re going to find very attractive real estate market trends throughout the tri-state region.

Shadow inventory supply:

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