Montclair Average Home Price Record Smashed

And I get freaky in the (Excel) sheets

The average sales price of Montclair homes at $1.64M in June crushed the previous record of $1.53M in May of 2023. What’s more, it wasn’t a few outliers pulling up the average among the 31 closings as the median sales price wasn’t far behind at $1.55M.

That puts us ahead of both the rarified markets of Summit and Chatham for the first time since December 2022, and only the second time ever. Millburn still reigns supreme in our area for home prices.

Price Premiums, A Deeper Dive

Despite record prices, the average closing price premium over asking price wasn’t abnormally high as asking prices have been creeping up.

• The average price premium over ask was 24%, up slightly from the 23% average over the past 12 months.
• Notable sales driving average price premiums went over ask by 67% ($769k to $1.3M), 64% ($1.1M to $1.8M), and 59% ($1.5M to $2.3M).

I pulled all the price premiums among the 33 Montclair home sales to see how much the “super premiums” weighted the average premium. The answer is that it depends on the price point because I discovered that the average price over ask is the average sale price compared to average ask price, not the average of the individual price premiums.

In June, the average of the individual premiums was actually 29%, meaning the premiums at the higher end were weighing down the overall average. So, naturally, I bifurcated the market and discovered that the price premiums at $1.1 million ask and under averaged 39%, while the price premiums above $1.1 million ask averaged 19%.

In May, splitting up the market at $900k, the average premium was 15% below $900k and 32% above $900k, the larger premiums favoring the upper end. This pulled up the average sale price over asking price to 25%, from the average of premiums of 23%.

This, of course, begs the question, “which price band commands the highest premiums?”

Let’s look at the 129 closed sales in the first six months of the year.

The $900k-$1.19M band is a decisive winner here.

Does that mean if you are bidding on a house in that price range you need to (or should) go over ask by 33%?

If it were that easy, I’d be out of a job. We advise on price and also on value. Some house styles, decor and location hold their value better than others, and that knowledge only comes from experience.

Want to see different data or data on other towns?

Just ask, I’m happy to accommodate.

While we are Montclair based, we are active throughout West Essex and currently also have homes under contract in: West Orange, Glen Ridge, Cedar Grove, Nutley, East Orange and Verona.

Reach out to me with any questions, comments or a real estate consultation.

Thanks for reading.

Best, Rich