Real estate activity in Somerset County, New Jersey, continues to be at levels lower than last year, but is improving.  Compared with activity in March, the level of active listings has increased 13%, not that unusual for this time of year.  Moreover, the ratio of pending sales to active listings has inched upwards to 20%, far below the 50% level that indicates a market "in balance."

Unlike March, the price range seeing the best pending/active ratio is no longer the lowest (under $300,000), nor even the low middle ($300-500,000), but rather the middle, with homes priced from $500,000 to $750,000.  Homes in that price bracket constitute only 20% of all actives, but 23% of all pendings, with 518 actives and 154 pendings.  And to top it all off, that middle range is also experiencing the lowest average days on market - at 66.  If there is a "sweet spot" in the Somerset County real estate market, it is in that range.

The median list price for all pendings right now in Somerset County is $425,000, compared with $395,000 in March.  However, the median list price for active listings has fallen from $439,000 in March to $434,900 in June.  The average list price in March for active listings was $685,939, in June, $686,008, no significant difference.  It seems that sellers are becoming more realistic as buyers come off the sidelines where they've been hanging for over a year.

Keep in mind, the various municipalities in Somerset County have different numbers - in some cases very different numbers.

After a May that showed Hillsborough NJ as a primary market in Somerset County, Hillsborough has caught fire in June.  Since June 1, there have been 31 new listings and 29 new sales, for a supply/demand ratio of 94%.  This is the highest number since December 2003.  June 2007 was 47%.

Of course, these are "early returns," with the month just past halfway, but it suggests good things are on the way.  Somerset County as a whole is at just 46%, and Bridgewater, another star from May, is at just 54%.

Stay tuned.

As I have written many times before, all real estate is local.  So, when a central New Jersey newspaper, The Courier News, ran an article on the front page (below the fold, alas) entitled "With the market down, it's the right time to buy," it appears that even the local media have gotten the word. 

A notoriously pessimistic appraiser and New Jersey market guru was quoted to the effect that five years from now people will look back and say that 2008 was the year to buy.  Interest rates (though starting to climb) were low and prices were at the bottom before they started their climb in 2009.  The New Jersey market has not suffered as much as other areas, and central New Jersey, especially Somerset County, has been spared the worst.

New Jersey has remained a relatively strong market not so much for its strong economy, some point out, but because with high population density there is not that much land to build on, and many restrictions make it difficult to do so.  Consequently, New Jersey did not experience the overbuilding during the boom of 2000-2005 that we saw in California, Nevada and Florida, areas now going through a difficult real estate market.  There is considerable pent-up demand for housing in New Jersey, and as the word appears on media front pages that prices will start to increase soon, buyers will take a deep breath and move off the sidelines, or they can wait and think five years from now - "we could've been a homeowner."