ResalesPrinceton, New Jersey Buyer"s Market Continues
While housing inventories have increased, low interest rates make buying attractive in Princeton, New Jersey, say local Realtors.
"Princeton is the cultural and business center of central New Jersey," says Realtor John J. Moore. "With the university at its core, and many major corporations calling it home, this is a very robust community. It also serves as a great family community in which to live in and commute to New York or Philadelphia. The interest in and demand for this town never ends."
"The Princeton real estate market came alive in June," says Moore. "and stayed alive in July. Although not as active as June, July still had 45 homes enter the market and 34 were sold. Perhaps the most significant difference in July was that the average price of a home sold was up $148,174 over the average sale in June. The higher end activity certainly picked up with 7 homes being sold over $1,000,000. This activity has helped the sagging average sale price somewhat, but year-to-date, the average is still 10 percent below 2002 at $663,614. Additionally, the average time it takes to sell a home is up 6 days at 76 days. The inventory of available homes remains high at 130, so there is lots to choose from in Princeton."
"Lets take a look at the housing market from Jan. 1 thru Aug. 31,2003and compare the stats to the same 8 month period from Jan. 02 thru Aug. "02," says Realtor Charlie Frank, "The price range of the following stats is $200,000 to $1,500,000. Listings for the period increased 7 percent while SOLD Units fell by 6 percent compared to a like period in 2002. Inventory of UNSOLD units increased 38 percent."
Frank explains, "Buyers now have more choices - more choices equals more pressure for sellers to be competitive with pricing. The average SOLD price FELL by 6 percent while the average list price gained by 7 percent. The rise in inventory coupled with flat sales and dropping prices of existing inventory will place a great deal of pressure on sellers to sharpen their listing price. The average Days on Market jumped to 70 days (62 days for a like period in 2002) If you currently have your home on the market for more than 70 days without any price reduction- it"s time to start thinking about a price reduction.The mortgage interest rates have continued to climb over this time one year ago, from under 6 percent to around 6.4 percent for an average 30-year conventional loan. If our national economy continues to recover then look for mortgage interest rates to continue to inch upwards."
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