Oceanport Home Prices After Sandy

After Super Storm Sandy there was a lot of concern about its effect on home prices in towns along the Jersey shore. Would real estate values decline across the board? Would living on barrier islands become less attractive? Would home values decline in the parts of towns hit hard by Sandy and increase in the parts that weren’t affected by flooding? While we won’t know the answers for several more months, we might get some clues by looking at home sales in the 4 months since the storm. Let’s look at Oceanport first.

Parts of Oceanport by were hit hard by Sandy. Flooding was widespread along the waterfront, and even several blocks inland which hadn’t been affected in many years. So Oceanport might be typical of many towns along the coast in terms of Sandy’s affect on home prices.

When we look at Oceanport home sales for the 4-month period from November 1st through February 28th, here’s what we find:

2011-2012

2012-2013

Number of Homes Sold

14

20

Average Selling Price

$409,464

$399,920

Median Selling Price

$377,500

$360,000

Avg. Cumulative Days on Market

121

115

I always hesitate to draw conclusions with less than 20 sales anyway, but this information looks pretty neutral so far. The average selling price was down slightly, but the median selling price was up slightly. Homes were on the market for about the same time as they were a year ago.

Many individual homes were damaged significantly, and they still might be in the process of being repaired before they’re put on the market. When that time comes, it’s possible that there will be significant downward pressure on home prices. However, so far the real estate market looks pretty stable. Oceanport’s still a great place to live, and has a lot of positive things going for it. With great schools and an enviable location, it’s hard to imagine that home owners looking to sell won’t be able to find willing buyers at reasonable prices.

I’ll keep track of Oceanport home sales and I’ll update you every month.

Next time we’ll take a look at Little Silver.

Len

Leonard “Len” Dunikoski, GRI

REALTOR® Associate

Diane Turton Realtors – Rumson Office

8 West River Road

Rumson, NJ 07760

(732) 239-0739  (cell)    (732) 530-6686 (office)

ldunikoski@dianeturton.com