If you’ve been thinking about buying a single-family home in Hazlet, you may not have realized how quickly home prices have been rising. As of the end of August, the median price of a single-family home in Hazlet has increased by 4% compared to a year ago. So have you missed your chance to buy a home in Hazlet, or is this still a good time?
To try to answer that question, let’s look at Hazlet’s 8 month year-to-date statistics, focusing on the 4 key objective real estate indicators (items in bold font are good news for home sellers, but bad news for home buyers; had there been items in underlined italic font, they would have been bad news for home sellers, but good news for home buyers):
Sales: 101 in 2012, 140 in 2013 (+39%)
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Listings: 101 in 2012, 96 at the end of August 2013 (-5%)
Median Sales Price: $265,000 in 2012, $275,000 in 2013 (+4%)
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Absorption Rate: 7.9 months in 2012, 4.9 months now (much stronger Demand vs. Supply)
As you can see, all 4 of the indicators are good news for home sellers and bad news for home buyers. All 4 indicators are also predicting higher home prices. The real estate absorption rate is a calculation of how long it would take to sell all of the homes listed for sale, assuming that homes continue to sell at the same rate as they have for the past year. An absorption rate of 5 – 7 months is a ‘normal market”, while over 7 months is considered a “buyer’s market” and less than 5 months is considered a “seller’s market”. The take-away message is that in one year Hazlet changed from a “buyer’s market” into a “seller’s market”.
If you’re looking to buy in Hazlet, you’re going to have to pay more than you would have a year ago, but you should be happy that prices are up only 4% in a “seller’s market”.
Traditionally there's an upswing in the number of home sales between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, and then a relatively quiet real estate market until early spring. If you're thinking of buying a home in Hazlet, look now while there's still a good supply of homes on the market. If you find a home you like, you'd be wise to lock in a mortgage interest rate before the rates go up again.
Remember, if you find a listing for a home in Hazlet you like, DON’T CALL THE LISTING AGENT. The Listing Agent works for the Seller, and has a fiduciary responsibility to get the highest price. You want to work with a REALTOR® whose undivided loyalty is to YOU, and who will negotiate the LOWEST price. I helped a nice young couple find a home in Hazlet a few months ago- take a look at my Profile to see the great recommendation they gave me.
I'd be glad to help you find exactly what you're looking for in Hazlet- just call, text or email me and I'll get right back to you.
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)
