From the Daily Record:
Sticker shock: Census shows home prices jump 82.5%
BY COLLEEN O’DEA
New estimates released today from the U.S. Census Bureau confirm what people here already knew: Housing in Morris County is an expensive place to live.
The county ranks among the 35 most expensive counties in the nation, and first or second in the state, in the areas of home value and monthly mortgage payments and rents, the data show.
“It is not surprising that housing values have risen dramatically,” said Christine Marion, a Morris County planner.
The American Community Survey’s mid-decade housing estimates show that in just five years, the median home value in Morris County rose by more than $200,000 to $463,500 in 2005. That’s an 82.5 percent increase since 2000. At the same time, inflation in the Northeast, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose only about a third as much, or 28.1 percent.
…
Still, the increase in Morris was only eighth largest in New Jersey and lagged behind the state average increase of 93 percent.The county where values rose the fastest was Ocean, which logged a 112 percent increase in just five years. In Monmouth and Union, home values also more than doubled between 2000 and 2005.
When adjusted for inflation, the median home value in Morris County rose by nearly twice the national average of 32 percent. The median home value in Morris ranked second in New Jersey, behind Bergen’s median of $466,100, and 34th in the nation. New Jersey’s median average was almost $334,000.
I don’t think anyone questions the fact that New Jersey housing is expensive. It has been expensive and it will likely continue to be expensive.
However, what is not realistic is the increase we’ve seen in the past 6 years. This increase did not have it’s foundation based on wages and demand, but speculation.
Why is an 82% increase in 5 years a “no-brainer”, but any talk of a possible decline must be dismissed immediately as an impossibility.
Caveat Emptor!
jb
um..because houses can only appreciate??
Fundamentals,Fundamentals,Fundamentals!!!!!!!!!!
During this time frame salaries were up approx 15-20%. After infaltion, you are actually down in real income. How does negative real income support this price increase, along with rising taxes and health care. Simple, it does not and will not until prices come back to fundamentals. We are headed back to 2000 -2001 prices, retracing all these unrealistic gains. Markets always retrace back to their real value. This market will be no different.
JB,
if I had to send someone a quick synaposis of why we are in a bubble, I would send them your exact post.
Looking at the big picture, it is so obvious that we are in a bubble, but for some reason no one wants to admit it. yet the people who do not want to admit it are in the same shoes as the rest of us, high home prices.
I heard the funniest thing this weekend. I was with my fiances family and her mom’s boyfriend was talking about selling his house. He bought this last place 2 years ago for cash in staten island. it has appreciated a lot since then, so of course he wants to sell. but the problem is he can not pay cash for what he wants to move in. so he proceeds to tell me there is no bubble and if we do not buy now we will never be able to, but the continuation of his sentence is how he can not believe he is priced out of the market. it made no sense to me how he does not see this is a bubble.
we got more pressure than ever this weekend to buy, with everyone telling us the market has bottomed and now is the time to buy. if we wait until the spring the prices will be back up and we will be priced out again. How do they think prices go up 100% in 6 years, and then drop 2% in 4 months and that is the bottom?
If this is “the bottom” (it certainly isn’t), then that means I’ll have to buy a half-million dollar+ junker of a house.
I’d rather rent, or move.
$300K buys A LOT of house in other cities across the country (North Carolina, Atlanta).
“Housing in Morris County is an expensive place to live.”
What crappy grammer.
lisoosh Says:
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:24 am
“Housing in Morris County is an expensive place to live.”
What crappy grammer.
you mean grammar?
I’d rather rent, or move.
I’ll second that. I look at it this way:
– If I’m right about the bubble, then I save myself from financial disaster or a life of debt slavery to tiny crakerbox in a so-so town.
– If I’m wrong and there is no correction, I admit defeat and move to an area with a lower cost of living, saving myself from financial disaster or a life of debt slavery to tiny crakerbox in a so-so town.
Renting,
I agree. If I’m wrong, I sit out and let my interest pay my monthly rent. If I’m right???
RISK/REWARD
“thatbigwindow Says:
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:25 pm
lisoosh Says:
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:24 am
“Housing in Morris County is an expensive place to live.”
What crappy grammer.
you mean grammar?”
Ha, got me there! Luckily I’m not a journalist, or a realtor!