From the NY Times:
Demand for Offices, but Not Homes
As for the residential market, the latest report from the Otteau Appraisal Group, Mr. Otteau’s East Brunswick-based firm, is downbeat. “Any significant recovery will likely be pushed off until 2008 at the earliest,” it predicted.
By June 1, the number of unsold homes in New Jersey hit 71,000, which the Otteau Group calls the highest on record since it began its monitoring in 1986. The previous record, 68,000, was set last September, according to Mr. Otteau.
The supply of homes on the market right now is enough to meet demand for the next eight months, he said, and several brokers agreed. A year ago, there was a seven-month supply of homes for sale, the Otteau Group reported.
What is more, Mr. Otteau said, the inventory is likely to keep increasing over the summer months, when people are more likely to put homes up for sale, and not recede until fall.
“As the inventory grows,” he said, “it is very unlikely home prices will hold at current levels.” He estimated that prices had already sunk about 10 percent since last year. “It appears there will be additional decreases over the second half of the year.”
Many real estate sales agents insist that isn’t so. “If doom and gloom is happening, then it isn’t happening here,” proclaimed Linda Grotenstein, a sales agent based in Montclair. Her Coldwell Banker colleague Elaine Pruzon said she had sold three homes priced around $1 million in Short Hills within one week earlier this month.
Weichert’s vice president for northern New Jersey, Dominick Prevete, says he does weekly calculations for sales at 33 offices, and has not seen a drop in average prices.
Realtors lie. Thats their business. The moment these realtors really admit how bad things are, they are sunk. there are still a few fools who are buying because they believe the liars. Realtors need to dupe people into thinking that “All is well” just like Kevin Bacon did in animal house.
Hi, everyone. I’m a Staten Islander and would like to buy in Jersey once prices become more reasonable. In the meantime, I’ve been lurking on this board and occasionally post for about a year.
http://www.silive.com/siadvance/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/118449092115980.xml&coll=1
This article was on the front page of the local paper. While the headline is becoming more true, these few anecdotes paint an incomplete and misleading picture.
The article doesn’t mention any statistics re sales or prices. All it’s saying is that these pathetic sellers were no longer getting asking prices. There’s also BS from realtors and developers about how once this inventory is gone the prices are going to go way up again. And there’s no critique about the add-ins and incentives that they’re “giving away” as away of avoiding price cuts – and commission cuts.
I’m not usually the type to do so, but this warrants a response to the op-ed page.
What do you think?
I don’t mean to hijack the thread but there is a common theme here.
Most realtors are considered the new “used car salesman” these days. In fact I’d go as far to say that used car salesman may be a bit more ethical. I strongly urge any planning on buying pick five homes and watch then for at 12 months.