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153 Morningside Rd,
Verona Twp, NJ 07044-1003

Bidding Wars Still the Norm

Plus a Deep Dive into Price Premiums

September Results

Some good news for buyers as inventory grew a bit in September with 42 new listings this past month vs 37 in September 2024 This boosted available September inventory to 57 homes, up from only 29 in August. While inventory is growing somewhat, prices remain quite high with a median asking price of $1.2 million among new listings versus a median price of $900k last September.

16 homes closed in September with a 17% price premium over ask, up from 13% last Sept, but down from a 20% 12 month average. The median sales price of $936k in Sept was the lowest we’ve seen since Feb 2024. These sales results aren’t really indicative of the fall market as they represent, for the most part, houses listed in the summer.

A look at Price Premiums

A hot topic in the local real estate conversation is how far above asking homes are selling. If you look at figure A you’ll see that double digit premiums over ask is a fairly recent phenomenon, with higher rates sparking lower inventory (see last month’s analysis here)

You may ask, “shouldn’t asking prices creep up with sales prices, closing the price premium gap, especially in the fall, dictated by Spring trends?” We do see premiums typically higher in the spring (figure B), but it seems to be result of zealous buying activity and not prices creeping up in the fall to meet expectations. If you look at figure C, you will see that April asking prices have been on par with September, and actually a good bit higher in ‘23 and ‘24. It could be that more owners of expensive homes choose to list in Spring. We did, however, see median prices bump up in September from April prices this year, but they still haven’t moved past levels of the past 2 springs. It will be interesting to see if the price premium gap shrinks on higher fall asking prices.

I always welcome comments and questions.

If you are curious about another town, something you don’t see, or your home in particular, please reach out.

Best, Rich