The real estate market in Bergen County outperformed the national market. According to the report released this morning by the National Association of Realtors (and which is making headlines throughout the news media), June pending contracts are down by 2.6% from where they were in May. This is not true for Bergen County.
New Jersey MLS data shows that we had 844 homes going under contract in May and 848 in June. Where you will see declines are in July and August. This typifies what happens every summer because real estate is still geared towards the school schedule. This is because it takes 50-60 days to close on a house.
If parents don’t register their children by mid August, their children will miss the first day of school in September. As a result, parents can’t wait until July to find a home – it’s just too late. For example, if you bought a home in Tenafly, you would need a minimum of 2 weeks to get your child registered today and 3 weeks is preferred.
Last year July had 139 fewer pendings but this year July is down by 101 so here too we’re doing better. The bottom line is that real estate is always extremely local. Despite today’s report from the NAR, the truth is that we’re doing all right. The real estate market in Bergen County is in great shape.
Here is something else to consider too. When the NAR looks at our area, it includes us with Passaic County for Northern NJ figures. That is way to vast an area to be correct for what happens here. It is not only physically too vast but included in Passaic are 2 large urban locations – Paterson and Passaic. These cities are so large that they skew the figures.
As a result, it makes no sense to use NAR figures for Bergen County. Many headline stories in the media are national in scope. Because what happens in your real estate market is focused locally, this never works. This is why it’s important to use our local MLS to understand the real estate market in Bergen County.
