Remember all those gains that we saw last week in Closed (Sold) properties? Well, we gave all those gains back. Both Hunterdon and Somerset Counties returned right back to the previous levels in the number of homes sold.
May 10th marks the 55th day of the New Jersey quarantine due to COVID-19 (starring from March 16th). That is almost 8 full weeks. From the time a seller and buyer come to agreement for a purchase/sale of a home, it usually takes about 6 weeks for the actual closing to occur. That means we are right now processing all the closings on offers that came to agreement after the beginning of the quarantine began. The reason that is important is because up until the prior week, much of the lingering activity came to fruition prior to the quarantine.
To date, I am pleased to see that much of the numbers are holding steady. As a matter of fact, the median list price for a home in Hunterdon County jumped up by $15,000 from the week prior.
Somerset County Pending sales (Under Contract) jumped from 44 to 65, which will have a downstream effect of more closings in the next month or so. That is more great news!
Here is a breakdown of the towns with the most sold:
Hunterdon County
- Raritan Township: 5
- Bethlehem Township: 3
- Clinton Township and Tewksbury Township: 2
- Alexandria, East Amwell, Frenchtown, High Bridge: 1 each
Somerset County
- Franklin Township: 7
- Hillsborough Township: 7
- Montgomery Township: 4
- Bridgewater Township: 3
- Bedminster, Branchburg, Green Brook, North Plainfield, Warren Township: 2 each
Hunterdon County
| New Listings | Pending | Closed | Total Active | Average DOM** | Median List Price** | |
| 03-23 to 03-29 | 24 | 21 | 24 | 659 | 103 | $510,000 |
| 03-30 to 04-05 | 33 | 24 | 36 | 626 | 101.5 | $519,000 |
| 04-06 to 04-12 | 27 | 24 | 18 | 617 | 104.5 | $519,450 |
| 04-13 to 04-19 | 27 | 17 | 19 | 609 | 107 | $519,950 |
| 04-20 to 04-26 | 29 | 19 | 22 | 603 | 109 | $519,000 |
| 04-27 to 05-03 | 33 | 17 | 47 | 606 | 110 | $510,000 |
| 05-04 to 05-10 | 41 | 22 | 19 | 609 | 111 | $525,000 |
Somerset County
| New Listings | Pending | Closed | Total Active | Average DOM** | Median List Price** | |
| 03-23 to 03-29 | 52 | 57 | 54 | 1055 | 80 | $549,000 |
| 03-30 to 04-05 | 62 | 38 | 66 | 1027 | 81 | $547,000 |
| 04-06 to 04-12 | 41 | 38 | 39 | 1000 | 86 | $549,000 |
| 04-13 to 04-19 | 46 | 30 | 51 | 987 | 89 | $549,325 |
| 04-20 to 04-26 | 50 | 36 | 37 | 985 | 92 | $550,000 |
| 04-27 to 05-03 | 89 | 44 | 71 | 1006 | 90 | $549,000 |
| 05-04 to 05-10 | 93 | 65 | 36 | 1012 | 89 | $550,000 |
* Source: Garden State Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
** Average DOM and Average List Prices are for ALL active listings, not just the ones updated in the specified date ranges.
***Please keep in mind that these numbers are not audited. I am pulling them manually on a weekly basis. While they are not ‘official’ numbers, they can still be used in general to monitor the real estate activity as we move through the COVID-19 pandemic.
