Buy? Buy what?

Posted on May 18, 2017 by grim

From CNBC:

Real estate CEO: Record-low housing inventory is ‘freaking us out’

The number of homes for sale in America has been falling steadily for the past year, but the situation is apparently getting much worse as spring demand heats up.

“The inventory is reaching historic lows. It’s never declined faster than it did last month. It’s freaking us out — it’s affecting our business; it’s limiting our sales,” said Glenn Kelman, CEO of Seattle-based Redfin, a real estate firm. “We’re going to be fine in terms of market share, but I think the overall industry for the first time is seeing sales volume really limited by the inventory crunch.”

Kelman started Redfin more as a technology company and touts his ability to track closely the more than 80 metropolitan markets it covers. He blames the lack of inventory on a new dynamic in housing.

“It’s a new landlord nation where everybody is renting out their basement. When somebody moves up they don’t sell their old place, they rent it out to somebody else, and it’s because they want to keep that 30-year mortgage for 30 years, and it’s because they can easily find somebody on Airbnb who will take the place,” Kelman said.

Homes in April sold the fastest since Redfin began tracking the market in 2010. The typical home went under contract in just 40 days, 10 days faster than April 2016. As a result, 1 in 4 homes sold above their list price, which is the highest percentage Redfin has recorded.

Home prices continue to move higher as well, but, “It’s not a bubble,” said Kelman emphatically, who cites tight credit as keeping the bubble at bay.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, Unrest | 89 Comments

Foreclosure crisis completely behind us now?

Posted on May 17, 2017 by grim

From HousingWire:

Homeowners keep getting better at paying their mortgage

Consumers are steadily getting better at paying their mortgage with fewer and fewer loans moving into foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest National Delinquency Survey.

The report found that the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.71% of all loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter of 2017. The delinquency rate was down nine basis points from the previous quarter, and was six basis points lower than one year ago.
…
Marina Walsh, MBA’s vice president of industry analysis, explained, “Mortgage delinquencies decreased overall in the first quarter of 2017, driven by a drop in both the FHA and VA delinquency rates from the previous quarter as the conventional delinquency rate held constant.”

On top of this, Walsh added that employment growth started 2017 on strong footing, with the economy adding 216,000 jobs in January and 232,000 jobs in February.

“Average hourly wage growth increased 2.8% over the year, and has maintained a generally increasing trend since late 2015. These fundamentals have helped to support the performance of all loan types – whether FHA, VA or conventional loans,” she stated.
…
The serious delinquency rate, the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due or in the process of foreclosure, fell to 2.76%, a decrease of 37 basis points from last quarter, and a decrease of 53 basis points from last year.

Walsh concluded, “In addition, nearly all states had a decrease in the percentage of loans in foreclosure in the first quarter. The overall percentage of loans in the process of foreclosure was 1.39%, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2007. While judicial states still had more than three times the percent of loans in foreclosure as non-judicial states, that measure declined to the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2007.”

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, Housing Recovery | 87 Comments

America loves houses again

Posted on May 16, 2017 by grim

From HousingWire:

Realtors: Homebuyers flooded housing market in first quarter

The first quarter of 2017 saw the strongest quarterly home sales pace in a decade, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors.

This increase in home sales put downward pressure on housing inventory levels and caused home prices growth to accelerate its rate of increase in the first quarter, the report states. In fact, metro home prices now accelerated for three consecutive quarters.

The national median home price increased to $232,100, up 6.9% from the first quarter of 2016. This represents the fastest rate of growth since the second quarter of 2015.

“Prospective buyers poured into the market to start the year, and while their increased presence led to a boost in sales, new listings failed to keep up and hovered around record lows all quarter,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “Those able to successfully buy most likely had to outbid others, especially for those in the starter-home market, which in turn quickened price growth to the fastest quarterly pace in almost two years.”

Single family home prices increased in 85% of markets as 152 of 178 metropolitan statistical areas showed sales prices gains in the first quarter, the report states. However, in 14 MSAs, home prices decreased year-over-year.

“Several metro areas with the healthiest job gains in recent years continue to see a large upswing in buyer demand but lack the commensurate ramp up in new home construction,” Yun said. “This is why many of these areas, in particular several parts of the South and West, are seeing unhealthy price appreciation that far exceeds incomes.”

Total existing home sales, including single-family homes and condos, increased 1.4% in the first quarter to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.62 million, the highest rate since the first quarter of 2007. This is up from 5.55 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 and from 5.36 million in the first quarter of 2016.

Housing inventory, however, decreased 6.6% from 1.96 million homes for sale in the first quarter last year to 1.83 million this year. This average supply rested at 3.7 months in the first quarter, down from 4.2 months last year.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 98 Comments

Armageddon for NJ

Posted on May 15, 2017 by grim

From the APP:

NJ suburbs: Endangered because of millennials?

New Jersey’s suburbs, with their sprawling single-family homes and regional malls built to attract baby boomers, need to be re-engineered for a new generation that wants to ditch its cars and walk, experts say.

Despite reams of demographic data, real estate developers and mayors say the turnaround hasn’t been easy. Not-in-my-backyard residents aren’t shy about voicing concerns about noise and traffic new development can bring.

“The state of New Jersey has to recognize they’re facing a land-use apocalypse,” said Carl Goldberg, a real estate consultant and former chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

Goldberg was one of several experts who spoke recently at Monmouth University’s Kisalk Real Estate Institute’s forum titled: “The Future of New Jersey’s Suburbs.”

The event came as builders try to make New Jersey hip and cool enough to attract the giant millennial generation that has made it clear: A suburban life with a large home and long commute to an office park isn’t as idyllic as it once sounded.

“Many of our 20th century assumptions about growth and development have been made obsolete,” Rutgers University economist James W. Hughes said.
…
The result: From 1950 to 2004, New Jersey added 29 jobs for every one job added in New York City. From 2004 to 2015, New York City added 29 jobs for every one job in New Jersey, Hughes said.

Millennials “look for where they want to live and then think about a job,” said Geoff Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Smart Growth America, a Washington, D.C., research group. “Who does that?”

Posted in Demographics, Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 102 Comments

Big price jumps on Long Island – Sustainable?

Posted on May 12, 2017 by grim

From Newsday:

LI home prices jump in April as inventory plummets: MLS

The number of homes listed for sale on Long Island plummeted last month, driving up prices as buyers competed for scarce listings, the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island reported Thursday.

The median home price in Nassau County was $475,000 in April, up 8 percent from a year earlier. In Suffolk County the median price rose 9 percent, year over year, to $340,000.

The number of closed sales fell, year over year, by 9 percent in Nassau and increased by 0.6 percent in Suffolk.

Buyers are getting into bidding wars over the most desirable homes, and some repeatedly lose out because they refuse to raise their price enough, said Andy Yakubovsky, manager of Century 21 American Homes in Oceanside. “Usually by the third time, they say, ‘I see a pattern here, I need to go full or over asking price,’” he said.

But with inventory so tight, in some cases sellers accept a bid and start looking for their next home — only to realize there’s nothing acceptable in their price range, Yakubovsky said. Some of those contracted sales fall through, contributing to the decline in closed transactions, he said.

Homeowners, he said, “are basically saying, ‘Never mind, I’m staying,’ ” he said.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, NYC | 117 Comments

Fake it until you make it, or lose it again

Posted on May 9, 2017 by grim

Or, you just can’t fix stupid. From the NY Post:

Repeat foreclosures in the city have reached an all-time high

New York homeowners are in default mode — again.

The city leads the nation in repeat foreclosure filings

And the winner in all this is the residential mortgage servicing industry, which collects monthly payments and cashes in on fees for every homeowner’s misfortune.

The number of repeat foreclosure filings in New York City far outstrips that of other major cities like Los Angeles, while New York state is No. 1 for repeat foreclosures, outpacing every other state and the US as a whole.

In a report prepared exclusively for The Post, Attom Data Solutions found that in New York City last year, roughly 4,900 — or more than half of all new foreclosures filed — were repeats, up from just 5 percent in 2008.

Statewide, 73 percent of the 49,200 new foreclosure cases — or roughly 35,916 foreclosures — over the past 12 months were repeats, up from 20 percent in 2007, according to Black Knight, which collects data reported by servicers.

Refilings, which occur when borrowers land in foreclosure more than once for the same property, can happen for a host of reasons, from a failed loan modification to a foreclosure being dismissed when the servicer can’t prove it owns the loan and later refiles the case.

Posted in Foreclosures, NYC | 183 Comments

Will Trump help NJ home prices?

Posted on May 8, 2017 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

The Trump Effect: What will the president mean for Bedminster real estate?

Residents of Bedminster are used to getting a blank look whenever they tell people the name of their hometown, followed by a quizzical, “Where?”

They usually answer the question by explaining it’s near Basking Ridge, or Bernardsville, or the Bridgewater mall.

With a very special neighbor expected to make frequent weekend visits this summer, however, that may change.

Less certain, though, is whether the local real estate market will experience a Trump Effect.

As Donald Trump quietly concluded his first getaway weekend in New Jersey since taking office, will his presence bring a certain cachet to the region, or be a turn-off to customers who worry about the commotion it might bring?

“We’re used to him, you know,” said Debra Groendyk, a real estate agent manning an open house of a property with 38 acres smack in the middle of horse country.

“We all know the different helicopters by now: ‘Oh, there’s the Trump helicopter. Oh, there’s the Forbes helicopter,'” she said.
…
While feelings about Trump still run high on both sides, so far they don’t seem to be rubbing off on town itself, several agents said.

“I’ve not had a single customer say, ‘Oh, Trump lives there! I don’t want to live there!,” said Groendyk. Nor has she had any customers express a preference for Bedminster-based solely on Trump’s use of his golf club there as a weekend retreat.

Any commotion was at a minimum this weekend. While there were planned protests on Saturday, just one person showed up briefly on Sunday. There were police cars parked at the front and side entrances of the golf club, but no road closures.

Instead, the traffic jams and parking headaches were a few miles away, at the fabulously popular rummage sale run by the Somerset County Visiting Nurses Association.
…
For Angela Olsen, a Scotch Plains residents exploring homes for sale in the Somerset Hills neck of the woods, the notion that the president could have any possible impact on that hunt gave her pause. She had made the association between the president’s visit and the town she was exploring just the day before, she said.

“Hopefully it won’t drive up prices for people who just want to live here for other reasons,” she said.

One change everyone agrees is likely: they’ll no longer have to give a long geography lesson whenever they mention Bedminster.

“He’s putting it on the map,” said Melton, “and maybe that’s good.”

Posted in Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 69 Comments

Just Kidding

Posted on May 4, 2017 by grim

From CNBC:

Home prices will not fully recover until 2025, and a new report explains why

Check out any one of the many national home price reports, and headlines scream of new peaks and growing gains each month. Home prices are rising faster than inflation, faster than incomes and faster than some potential buyers can bear. Those reports are heavily weighted toward large metropolitan housing markets.

In fact, most of the U.S. housing market has not recovered from the epic crash of the last decade.

Only about one-third of homes have surpassed their pre-recession peak value, according to a new report from Trulia, a real estate listing and analytics company. Price growth in most markets is so slow that it will take about eight years for the national housing market to fully recover — that is, for all home values either reaching or surpassing their previous peaks.
…
To say that the housing recovery has been uneven is an understatement. Some markets that have seen huge employment and population growth in the last decade, such as Denver, Seattle and San Francisco, lead the news with bubble-worthy headlines.

Not only have home prices there surpassed their recent peaks, they continue to rise at double-digit paces. Nearly all the homes in Denver and San Francisco (98 percent) have exceeded their pre-recession peak, according to Trulia. Other less obvious markets, like Oklahoma City and Nashville, Tennessee, have also seen the prices of most homes surpass their peak.

In areas hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis, fewer than 4 percent of homes have recovered to pre-recession price peaks. These include Las Vegas; Tucson, Arizona; Camden, New Jersey; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and New Haven, Connecticut.
…
Overall, the housing recovery has been limited to a mix of markets in the West seeing huge economic growth and in parts of the South where the housing crash didn’t hit as hard. Outside of major markets, the recovery is strongest in the heartland and the Pacific Northwest, which are both seeing bigger employment and income growth.

Posted in Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 146 Comments

What bust?

Posted on May 3, 2017 by grim

From HousingWire:

CoreLogic: Home prices continue upward trend in March

Home prices, to no surprise, continued their upward trend in March, increasing both year over year and month over month, according to the Home Price Index from CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider.

Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 7.1% in March 2017 compared with March 2016.

On a monthly basis, home prices increased by 1.6% in March 2017 compared with February 2017.

“A potent mix of strong job gains, household formation, population growth and still-attractive mortgage rates in the face of tight inventories are fueling a continuing surge in home prices across the U.S.,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Price gains were broad-based with 90 percent of metropolitan areas posting year-over-year gains. Major metropolitan areas were especially hot with CoreLogic data indicating that four of the largest 10 markets are now overvalued

Looking ahead, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 4.9% on a year-over-year basis from March 2017 to March 2018, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase by 0.6% from March 2017 to April 2017.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, explained what this means for the future of home prices.

“Home prices posted strong gains in March 2017, and the CoreLogic Home Price Index is only 2.8% from its 2006 peak,” said Nothaft. “With a forecasted increase of almost 5% over the next 12 months, the index is expected to reach the previous peak during the second half of this year. Prices in more than half the country have already surpassed their previous peaks, and almost 20% of metropolitan areas are now at their price peaks.”

Posted in Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 39 Comments

So much for Bedminster

Posted on May 2, 2017 by grim

From Town and Country:

Donald Trump Is Heading to His Bedminster Golf Club This Weekend

It looks like the president will be spending the weekend in New Jersey.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration notice posted online today, there will be a 30-mile temporary flight restriction in the Morristown and Bedminster Township region from Friday to Sunday. The same type of TFR was in place when Trump visited Mar-a-Lago, and a separate TFR announced Monday will go into effect over New York City on Thursday when Trump spends the night in Manhattan.

During the president’s first visit to New York since his inauguration, he is scheduled to meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the U.S.S. Intrepid to commemorate the 75th anniversary of a naval battle involving both countries during World War II.

Trump is also expected to spend time at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Friday, which is about an hourlong drive from the city.

Mar-a-Lago, which Trump has taken to calling his “Winter White House,” is closing for the season after Mother’s Day, and speculation about where the president will spend his weekends through the summer has been rampant. While he owns other properties in the tri-state area, his Bedminster golf club is the leading contender. The 535-acre club that was once the estate of automaker John DeLorean has already been referred to as the president’s “Camp David North” (Trump has expressed his aversion to the actual Camp David: It’s “very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes,” he told a European journalist before taking office.)
…
Bedminster Township has estimated it could cost as much as $302,000 to cover seven Trump family visits to the club each year—that’s the number of trips the president took to Mar-a-Lago since his inauguration. The high cost of security, nj.com reports, is because the 16-member police department responsible for protecting the town of 8,300 is small, so presidential visits will require paying officers overtime.

Posted in Politics, Unrest | 72 Comments

Otteau April Update

Posted on April 29, 2017 by grim

From the Otteau Group:

April MarketNEWS

NJ Home Sales Continue to Exhibit Strength

In March, the number of contract purchases by home buyers exceeded the same month in the prior year for the 31st consecutive month, reflecting a 10% increase over March 2016. Considering the 23% increase (y-o-y) in March of 2016, home sales have increased by 35% over the past 2 years. This latest gain was the highest number of purchase contracts recorded in the month of March of the past 12 years.

While the number of home sales occurring in New Jersey continue to rise, registering a 10% increase y-t-d, the largest gain has occurred for homes between $1.0-Million – $2.5-Million, which have increased by 20%. Home sales in excess of $2.5-Million have also been increasing for the first time in more than a decade. While it is still early in the year to draw any meaningful conclusions, there seems to be a correlation to improving economic indicators and consumer sentiment.

Shifting to the supply side of the equation, the supply of homes being offered for sale remains constricted, which is limiting choices for home buyers. The number of homes being offered for sale today in New Jersey has declined by nearly 8,700 (-17%) compared to one year ago. This is also about 32,000 (-43%) fewer homes on the market compared to the cyclical high in 2011. Today’s unsold inventory equates to 3.7 months of sales (non-seasonally adjusted), which is lower than one year ago when it was 4.9 months.

Currently, all of New Jersey’s 21 counties have less than 8.0 months of supply, which is a balance point for home prices. Hudson County continues to experience the strongest market conditions in the state with just 2.2 months of supply, followed by Essex, Middlesex, Union, Monmouth, Morris, Bergen, Passaic and Somerset Counties, which all have fewer than 3.5 months of supply. The counties with the largest amount of unsold inventory (6 months or greater) are concentrated in the southern portion of the state including Cumberland (6.1), Cape May (6.5), Salem (6.7) and Atlantic (7.2), however, these counties are also beginning to exhibit strengthening conditions.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 95 Comments

Everyone happy about housing again?

Posted on April 26, 2017 by grim

From HousingWire:

Experts: Spring home-buying season starts off with a bang

The spring home-buying season is in full swing and it started off with a bang.

Home prices increased in February to a new high for the fourth consecutive month, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones and CoreLogic.

And another release Tuesday from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed home prices rose 6.4% annually and 0.2% from the prior month.

But these rising home prices didn’t hold back new home sales, which increased a full 5.8% monthly and 15.6% annually, according to Tuesday’s release from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“The 2017 spring home shopping season has started off with a bang, and at this point the strength of the market shouldn’t come as much of a surprise,” Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell said. “February Case-Shiller numbers point to more fierce competition in the housing market.”

“The thing to watch for now is when market conditions will shift, and change does seem to loom on the horizon, with rising mortgage interest rates and flattening rents,” Gudell said. “Both could put a dent in home-buyer demand and overall price growth and affordability.”

Another expert confirmed that the market is strong for now, but explains high home prices and low inventory create significant headwinds for first-time homebuyers.

“Strong demand bolstered by income and job growth sets the stage for intense competition and continued price growth in the housing market,” Trulia Senior Economist Cheryl Young said.

“Consumers are likely to also take advantage of mortgage rates as they remain low,” Young said. “While the housing market looks to be recovering, these high prices impact the affordability of homes, directing the strongest headwinds towards starter-home buyers.”
…
“The good news is that new home sales jumped for the third month in a row, to about the same as last year’s peak in July,” realtor.com Senior Economist Joseph Kirchner said. “Already this spring market is challenging last year’s high-water mark.”

“The bad news is that sales are increasingly concentrated at the mid- to upper-end of the price range,” Kirchner said. “Sales of affordable new homes under $200,000 dropped to 12% from 17% of the market since last April.”

Posted in Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate | 159 Comments

You were hoping for a job?

Posted on April 25, 2017 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

More bad news for office leasing market in N.J., report says

Office leading deals in the first quarter in New Jersey has dropped to its lowest level in nearly a decade, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The first quarter showed the state’s office leasing market posted 1.75 million square feet of lease deals — both new and renewed, according to real estate services firm JLL, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Vacancy rates in New Jersey increased to 24.9 percent, growing 0.3 percentage points from the first quarter of 2016.

Newer buildings and those with high-end upgrades located in commuter-friendly areas have done better at securing new tenants, the report said. But older buildings continue to drag down the market, the report said.

Vacancy rates are likely to improve as more empty spaces are being redeveloped, turning aging B- and C-class buildings and business parks into modern properties with more amenities, the report said.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 125 Comments

Home price expectations highest since 2005.

Posted on April 24, 2017 by grim

From Gallup:

More in US Expect Local Home Values to Rise

Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults predict housing prices in their local area will increase in the next 12 months, up from 55% a year ago and the highest Gallup has measured since 2005.

Americans’ optimism about home values continues to recover from where it was after the housing bust and recession. Between 2008 and 2012, only as many as one-third of Americans, including a low of 22% in 2009, believed local housing prices would increase.

By 2013, a majority again held this view for the first time since 2007. This year, the percentage expecting housing-value gains pushed past 60%.

The high point in Gallup’s trend was 70% in 2005, the first year it asked the question and shortly before U.S. home values hit their peak.

These expectations largely mirror what has happened to U.S. home values over the past 10 years, with declines between 2007 and 2011, and increases beginning in 2012 and continuing since then.

In addition to the 61% currently expecting local housing prices to rise, 28% predict they will stay the same and 10% say they will decrease.
…
Americans — both those who own a home and those who do not — appear to be cognizant of trends in home prices. With U.S. home values showing consistent increases over the past five years after several years of decline, Americans expect local home prices to continue to rise. While Americans’ optimism is not yet back to where it was during the housing boom in the mid-2000s, it is now the closest it has been since the housing bubble burst in 2007.

The continued increase in housing prices leads to questions of whether another housing bubble could occur. While prices now are nearly where they were a decade ago, houses are more affordable because of lower interest rates, and banks are more reluctant to issue risky mortgages than they were before the mid-2000s housing market crash. Still, if housing prices continue to rise and interest rates increase, the potential for a new housing bubble will grow.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 43 Comments

Pay Up Jersey City – Just like the rest of us

Posted on April 22, 2017 by grim

From the Jersey Journal:

Jersey City homeowners uneasy as long-delayed revaluation begins

A five-letter word is causing heartburn in every neighborhood in Jersey City.

Reval.

The citywide property revaluation, Jersey City’s first since 1988, is finally underway, with inspectors knocking on doors, homeowners nervous about what their tax bills will be next year and Mayor Steve Fulop urging calm.

Fulop faced a roomful of grim-faced Downtown residents on March 28 to tell them what to expect.

“I know there’s a lot of fear because people assume the worst,” he told them before adding, “It’s going to be disruptive. I don’t want to mince words.”

Downtown property owners are expected to take a big hit since home values there have soared since the city last conducted a reval. But residents everywhere, from Merritt Street down in Greenville to Secaucus Road up in the Heights, say they fear higher property taxes, overassessed homes and a Jersey City that will be unaffordable for many longtime residents.

“This is going to kill me,” said Rosalie Narciso, a 71-year-old retired woman who lives in a Third Street brownstone. “It’s going to absolutely kill me.”
…
The 1988 reval, which came 17 years after the previous one, produced dramatic shifts in property values — the tax base soared from $800 million to $5.6 billion — followed by steep tax increases Downtown and in the Heights. A citizen group alleged wide disparities in assessments.

The revolt was bad news for then-Mayor Anthony Cucci. He was trounced when he sought re-election in 1989, receiving fewer than half the number of votes of the eventual winner, Gerry McCann. Cucci came in fourth place.

“The reval killed him,” City Clerk Robert Byrne said.

Fulop critics have said his fear of a repeat voter revolt led him to postpone this reval, with new assessments now not scheduled to be public until after the Nov. 7 mayoral race. Fulop has denied this, saying he stopped the reval in 2011 to make sure it is done fairly (last year New Jersey ordered this one to proceed and wrap up by Nov. 1).

“The last time the city did a reval, when I was 11 years old … many people throughout Jersey City lost their homes,” he said during an April 2015 meeting with local activist group Jersey City Together. “If it’s not done fairly the same thing from 1988 will happen.”
…
Since the last reval was nearly 30 years ago, the average property in Jersey City is assessed at just 23.66 percent of its market value.

The state says revals should be conducted when that figure dips below 80 percent, arguing that local taxes are not distributed fairly if the assessed-to-market-value ratio is so low (taxes are tied to assessment). One resident’s home could be assessed at its 1988 value, their neighbor’s home at its 2017 value.

Critics of the mayor point to his house as an example of unfair taxation.

In 2015 Fulop and his wife bought a four-bedroom house on Ogden Avenue, a leafy street in the Heights overlooking the Manhattan skyline. The sale price was $845,000. Its assessed value is $104,000, just 12 percent of its market value. The Fulops’ annual tax bill is $8,009.

Posted in Gold Coast, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 19 Comments