It seems as if Super Bowl Sunday is the official “kick off” for the early spring real estate market. After holiday distractions end, all of a sudden, buyers come out of hibernation and they are ready to buy — fueled by record low interest rates (3.375% – 3.5% for a 30 year fixed rate loan) that are allowing them to more easily afford a home or to afford more home than they expected.
Since then we’ve seen very crowded open houses and numerous properties in various price ranges selling with multiple offers, including a few that were sitting on the market before or during the holidays. Even some houses with some locational, layout or condition “issues” are moving briskly at this time. What a difference the spring season makes and what a great time for sellers! In this early spring market, even well-qualified buyers can expect to have a few disappointments — losing out on a home or two or three before they get one. Needless to say, we have a number of families who are looking for SOMA homes right now.
Let’s review the market activity for the month of January 2020. We hope that this deeper dive into SOMA’s real estate market stats proves useful and, if you have any questions, we are ALWAYS happy to talk with you.
Maplewood
There were 21 properties sold in January in Maplewood, 5 more than in January of last year. The average sale price was $571,982, 8.35% lower than in the same month in 2019. Sold homes closed at an average of 101.78% of list price (an increase of 1.17% from January 2019) and were on the market for an average of 38 days, just about the same amount of time as last year at this time. Here are the homes that sold in January in Maplewood and a comparison of the statistics YTD from 2019 v. 2020.
South Orange
There were 19 properties sold in January in South Orange, about the same number as in January of last year. The average sale price was $497,645, 20.92% lower than in the same month in 2019. Sold homes closed at an average of 98.43% of list price (an increase of .06% from 2019) and were on the market for an average of 40 days, 8 days longer than the same time last year. Here are the homes that sold in January in South Orange and a comparison of the statistics YTD from 2019 v. 2020.
Although it has cooled from its peak in 2015-2017 with record list price/sales price averages, the seller’s market continues with only 2 months of inventory (give or take) on the market in SOMA. More detailed reports on the SOMA market and many other communities are available on our website: Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group’s Local Market Reports. If you would like to, you can receive them in your inbox. Just reach out to us with your complete contact information and we can send them to you monthly.
Have real estate questions? Thinking of making a move? Let’s talk confidentially about your plans for this year.
The Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group is a top producing real estate team based at Keller Williams MidTown Direct in Maplewood, NJ. We are local market experts, specializing in real estate and homes in Maplewood, South Orange, Millburn/Short Hills, Montclair, West Orange, NJ and the surrounding towns. We are driven by earning great testimonials and referral business from happy clients. You can read our testimonials at www.azhomesnj.com/testimonials.
