2012 was a good year for the Rumson and Fair Haven real estate market, both for home buyers and for home sellers.
There were more home sales, fewer listings, the median selling price was higher, and the real estate absorption rate was lower. More sales and fewer homes on the market normally result in higher sales prices, and that’s exactly what we saw. The median price (the price at which 50% of the homes sold for more money and 50% for less) was up 8% compared to 2011, by comparison Fair Haven pricing was up 3%.
So far it sounds like good news for home sellers, but what about home buyers? Home buyers are happy because there’s still a relatively large inventory of homes for sale, keeping prices at reasonable levels and interest rates are still at their lowest.
However there is a new factor that now has to be considered. No one knows what effect “Super Storm” Sandy will have on the real estate market over the next 6 – 9 months.
One possibility is that home prices in flood-prone areas will decline as demand slips, and home prices will rise for homes in areas that weren’t affected by Sandy. Despite the fact that most of Rumson is not in a flood zone, some very nice waterfront homes did have significant water damage.
It will be interesting to see what happens in 2013, especially during the first half of the year.
Stay Tuned.