229 Walnut Street Montclair, NJ 07042

Montclair Home Buyers Frustrated by Low Inventory

Much Needed Inventory Fails to Materialize in September

Montclair housing inventory normally jumps up in September as buyers and sellers get back to business after Summer vacations. Not so this year.

There were only 39 new listings vs 86 last year and 89 in 2019. That made for a paltry 75 active listings in September, vs 167 in ‘20 and 165 in ’19.

So where are the sellers?

There isn’t a rush to market despite sale prices exceeding ask by 17% over the past 12 months (19% among September closings), and the expectation of interest rate increases as the Fed looks to temper inflation. Word is out that it’s a good time to sell, but there seems to be a bottleneck in sellers finding their next home.

A quick look at other towns shows similar indicators of unmet housing demand; high premiums above ask, low days on market and fewer active listings.

The one exception is Bloomfield, which saw an increase in active listings as sellers looked to cash out. Also notable in Bloomfield is a new home sale record of $920,000 for a 3 bedroom ranch (the prior record was $850,000).

We expect a small uptick in home inventory in October and November before the market slows during the holiday season. There is still ample time to come to market.

Contact me with your questions about the Montclair area real estate market.

Best, Rich

Rich Stanton
Principal Broker
3rd Generation Owner