NJ tops in foreclosures

Posted on July 15, 2010 by grim

From RealtyTrac:

1.65 Million U.S. Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings in First Half of 2010 According to RealtyTrac

1st Half YOY Change in Foreclosure Notices
New Jersey – Up 52.97%

2nd Quarter YOY Change in Foreclosure Notices
New Jersey – Up 75.48%

June 2010 YOY Change in Foreclosure Notices
New Jersey – Up 79.51%

2nd Quarter Bank Reposessions
New Jersey – 2,846 Properties

June 2010 Bank Reposessions
New Jersey – 896 Properties

June 2010 Sheriff Sale Notices
New Jersey – 937 Properties

From Bloomberg:

U.S. Home Seizures Rise 38% to Record as Banks Process Backlog

A record 269,962 U.S. homes were seized from delinquent owners in the second quarter as lenders set a pace to claim more than 1 million properties by the end of 2010, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

Home seizures climbed 38 percent from a year earlier and 5 percent from the first quarter, the Irvine, California-based data company said today in a statement. More than 1.65 million properties received a foreclosure filing, including notices of default, auction and bank repossession, in the first half. That was up 8 percent from the first six months of 2009.

“Foreclosures haven’t peaked yet,” Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview. Unemployment suggests that bank repossessions may climb for another six to nine months, he said.
…
One in 78 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in the first half, and filings surpassed 300,000 for the 16th consecutive month in June, RealtyTrac said. A total of 529,633 homes were seized by lenders — the last stage of the foreclosure process — in the first half, said Daren Blomquist, the data firm’s marketing manager.
…
California led in total filings as 340,740 properties got a notice, down 15 percent from the previous six months and almost 13 percent from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

Florida was second with 277,073 properties, down 9 percent from the previous six months and up 3 percent from the first half of 2009. Arizona was third at 91,484, down almost 2 percent from the previous period and up by a similar proportion from a year earlier.

Other states among the 10 highest totals were Illinois at 85,223; Michigan at 78,509; Georgia at 71,949; Texas at 64,883; Nevada at 64,429; Ohio at 59,927; and New Jersey at 36,542.

Posted in Foreclosures, National Real Estate, New Jersey Real Estate | 153 Comments

CAP 2.0%! (But will it help?)

Posted on July 13, 2010 by grim

From Bloomberg:

Christie Signs 2% Cap on New Jersey Property Taxes

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose state has the highest property taxes in the U.S., signed legislation capping annual increases in the levies at 2 percent.

The measure reduces the current 4 percent threshold on real-estate taxes, the prime funding source for schools and local governments, and cuts the number of exemptions to four from 14. Christie, a first-term Republican, said the new limits will affect calendar-year budgets that begin in January 2011.

Christie and the Democratic-led Legislature agreed on the cap July 3 after lawmakers resisted his call for a constitutional amendment limiting the increases to 2.5 percent. The governor vetoed an earlier 2.9 percent statutory limit approved by lawmakers as he called a special session of the Legislature and pushed for stricter restrictions.

“This is all about making New Jersey affordable again,” Christie said. “We’ve waited 30 years for a solution to the property tax problem in New Jersey and we’ve waited for politicians to fix it. They didn’t. This puts the solution in your hands.”
…
New Jersey property taxes rose 72 percent from 1999 to 2009 to an average of $7,281, according to data from the state Department of Community Affairs. Towns, schools and counties raised a total of $24 billion through the levy last year.

Christie, the first Republican elected governor of New Jersey since 1997, defeated Democrat Jon Corzine in November after pledging to end chronic budget deficits without raising sales, personal-income or business taxes. He has said curbing increases in local property taxes would make the state more affordable for residents and help it lure new businesses.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 168 Comments

Money Magazine randomly selects 4 NJ towns and adds them to the ‘best places to live’ list.

Posted on July 12, 2010 by grim

All I can say is… Huh? Rumor has it the section committee was a group of kindergarten teachers. They decided that, to be fair, everyone should get a ribbon pony.

In all seriousness, this is nothing more than a ploy by the NAR. They’ve made back room deals with all of the major list-zines such that every town in the US will appear favorably on at least one list every few years, lest the Realtors run out of puffery. Word on the street is that Camden is up for the “Best towns for bachelors” list next year.

Franklin Township, we welcome YOU to the spotlight. How far you’ve come from being the town named after Benjamin Franklin’s illegitimate son.

From the Star Ledger:

Money Magazine’s ‘best places to live’ list includes four N.J. towns

Money Magazine’s list of ‘best places to live’ in the United States includes four New Jersey towns in the top 100 ranking, according to CNNMoney.com.

Franklin Township in Somerset County ranked the highest on the list at 34, while nearby Piscataway in Middlesex County came in 57, Wayne in Passaic County ranked 73, and Middletown in Monmouth County ranked 89.

From CNN/Money:


Best Places to Live – Money’s list of America’s best small cities

1 Eden Prairie, MN 64,000
2 Columbia/Ellicott City, MD 155,000
3 Newton, MA 82,000
4 Bellevue, WA 124,000
5 McKinney, TX 125,000
6 Fort Collins, CO 141,000
7 Overland Park, KS 175,000
8 Fishers, IN 69,000
9 Ames, IA 60,000
10 Rogers, AR 57,000
…
34 Franklin, NJ 61,000
…
57 Piscataway, NJ 53,000
…
73 Wayne, NJ 53,000
…
89 Middletown, NJ 69,000

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate | 199 Comments

NJ Property Taxes – Like an adustable rate mortgage that never ticks down

Posted on July 12, 2010 by grim

From the Times of Trenton:

As cuts sting, taxes rise – Pinched by revenue losses and rising costs, homeowners hit from both sides

Susan Bluth owns a two-bedroom condo in the Wyckoff’s Mill development of Hightstown.

Her property taxes jumped last year as a result of a county-mandated revaluation, and this year, she’s bracing for more of the same.

“Taxes were bad enough before that, but last year we saw a $1,000 increase and now we’re probably getting another $800 increase when all is said and done,” said Bluth, president of the Wyckoff’s Mill Condominium Association.

When it comes to rising municipal tax bills, Bluth’s not alone.

Far from it.

Tax appeals, rising costs for health care and pension contributions, plummeting revenue and loss of state aid have all weighed heavily on municipal budgets.

And while layoffs, furloughs and wage freezes have been enacted in some towns, in many cases it won’t be enough to keep taxpayers from feeling the pinch when they open their tax bills.
…
Leading the pack?

Trenton, Robbinsville and Hightstown.

On the surface, the three don’t seem to have much in common — one’s a densely populated city, one a suburb and one a tiny, square-mile borough.

But residents in these three municipalities will see, on average, some of the highest municipal tax increases in the Mercer County area.

In Robbinsville, under the recently approved budget for 2010, the municipal tax rate has jumped 12.4 cents, to 52.8 cents per $100 assessed value.

For the average Robbinsville home assessed at $375,000, that means an average municipal tax bill of $1,980, a whopping $465 increase from last year.
…
For the average Trenton home assessed at about $67,000, the city portion of annual property taxes increased $395 to $2,231. The entire increase was tacked onto the quarterly bill due in April, causing consternation among homeowners.

Many senior citizens on fixed incomes went to the City Hall tax office in tears, saying they would not be able to afford their taxes and mortgages for much longer.

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Property Taxes | 123 Comments

Weekend Open Discussion

Posted on July 10, 2010 by grim

Will kick this one off with the best quote to ever appear in the New York Times:

She has described some homes here as “multimillion-dollar penis extensions” that will make a buyer feel as if “he has never left northern New Jersey.”

– Evelyn Konrad, In the Hamptons, Going Against the Tide

Posted in General | 115 Comments

Let it sink into the swamp

Posted on July 9, 2010 by grim

From the Record:

Xanadu may get $180M from state

Meadowlands Xanadu developers, after more than a year of looking for new investors, may soon add an important new partner: you, the state taxpayer.

Three sources familiar with a proposal under serious consideration by the Christie administration said that taxpayers — via a provision of the state’s Economic Stimulus Act of 2009 — could, in effect, invest about $180 million in the long-stalled project. That money would come in the form of an annual diversion to the developers of 75 percent of the state sales tax revenue generated by the project after it finally opens — for as long as 20 years, or until the $180 million cap is reached.

That figure is based on an estimate of $900 million in additional capital needed to finish off a 2-million-square-foot retail and entertainment project on which developers already have spent about $2 billion.
…
The plan is likely to draw heavy fire both from conservatives and liberals, who may consider the incentive program as “corporate welfare.” But the law creating the incentive was sponsored by state Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, and signed by Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, last summer. An amended version of the law that Lesniak said prevents voter referendums for projects linked to state economic stimulus programs — such as the Xanadu proposal — was signed into law by Governor Christie, a Republican, in May.
…
“If some help doesn’t come quickly, that project will be dead,” Lesniak said. “We don’t need white elephants around that generate no revenue and no jobs. When we signed this bill into law, I said it would be the most powerful economic development tool anywhere. This [use of the EDA program for Xanadu] would be proof of that.”

Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 214 Comments

“Oh yeah, I want them to tax me more money”

Posted on July 8, 2010 by grim

From the APP:

New Jersey mayors against property-tax cap voice concerns

Mayors opposed to the 2 percent cap on property tax increases hurtling toward approval by the state Legislature voiced their concerns to an Assembly committee Wednesday, taking exception to the exemptions now being excluded.

Such costs are within the compromise 2 percent cap negotiated by Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney that was announced last Saturday. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver announced Wednesday that the Assembly Democrats support the cap though still have concerns about “some holes” in its details.

“In concept, we support the cap. We know that residents of this state want to see some restraints put on their taxes. But we have to give people at the local level the leverage that they need to make it work for their community,” Oliver said. “There continue to be difficulties with the (veto) as issued.”
…
The 2 percent cap would exempt pension and health care costs, capital expenditures including debt service and costs needed to respond to an emergency, but 10 other exceptions allowed under the current 4 percent cap would be erased. Voters would be allowed to override the cap in a referendum.
…
Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said such override votes will almost certainly fail.

“There is no citizen in the state who’s going to say, “Oh yeah, I want them to tax me more money,’ ” he said.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Property Taxes | 231 Comments

Woe is May

Posted on July 6, 2010 by grim

From Jeffery Otteau (http://www.otteau.com):

Contracts to purchase a home in New Jersey declined in May by 23% as compared to the same month last year, falling to their lowest level of the past 6 years. Considering that contract-sales in April recorded their 2nd highest pace on record in New Jersey, this marks a stunning reversal for the housing market raising concerns about the sustainability of the recovery that has been taking shape in the housing market and overall economy since last year.

From the WSJ:

Signs of Improvement Are Fleeting for Mortgage Delinquencies

After several months of improvement, mortgage delinquencies rose in May, according to loan data tracked by research firm LPS Applied Analytics.

Nearly 9.2% of all loans were 90 days or more past due at the end of May, up from 9% one month earlier. Those numbers exclude the share of loans in foreclosure, which remained unchanged at 3.18% in May from the previous month.
…
The numbers raise questions about how enduring the improvement in mortgage delinquencies earlier this year will prove to be, particularly because delinquencies typically improve during February and March. The number of loans that were 30 days past due jumped in May from April, while the share of loans that were 60 and 90 days late also increased.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, New Jersey Real Estate | 236 Comments

Urban Migration Mirage?

Posted on July 6, 2010 by grim

From the Wall Street Journal:

The Myth of the Back-to-the-City Migration

Pundits, planners and urban visionaries—citing everything from changing demographics, soaring energy prices, the rise of the so-called “creative class,” and the need to battle global warming—have been predicting for years that America’s love affair with the suburbs will soon be over. Their voices have grown louder since the onset of the housing crisis. Suburban neighborhoods, as the Atlantic magazine put it in March 2008, would morph into “the new slums” as people trek back to dense urban spaces.

But the great migration back to the city hasn’t occurred. Over the past decade the percentage of Americans living in suburbs and single-family homes has increased. Meanwhile, demographer Wendell Cox’s analysis of census figures show that a much-celebrated rise in the percentage of multifamily housing peaked at 40% of all new housing permits in 2008, and it has since fallen to below 20% of the total, slightly lower than in 2000.

Housing prices in and around the nation’s urban cores is clear evidence that the back-to-the-city movement is wishful thinking. Despite cheerleading from individuals such as University of Toronto Professor Richard Florida, and Carole Coletta, president of CEOs for Cities and the Urban Land Institute, this movement has crashed in ways that match—and in some cases exceed—the losses suffered in suburban and even exurban locations. Condos in particular are a bellwether: Downtown areas, stuffed with new condos, have suffered some of the worst housing busts in the nation.

Take Miami, once a poster child for urban revitalization. According to National Association of Realtors data, the median condominium price in the Miami metropolitan area has dropped 75% from its 2007 peak, far worse than 50% decline suffered in the market for single family homes.

Then there’s Los Angeles. Over the last year, according to the real estate website Zillow.com, single-family home prices in the Los Angeles region have rebounded by a modest 10%. But the downtown condo market has lost over 18% of its value. Many ambitious new projects, like Eli Broad’s grandiose Grand Avenue Development, remain on long-term hold.
…
Demographic trends, including an oft-predicted tsunami of Baby Boom “empty nesters” to urban cores, have been misread. True, some wealthy individuals have moved to downtown lofts. But roughly three quarters of retirees in the first bloc of retiring baby boomers are sticking pretty close to the suburbs, where the vast majority now reside. Those that do migrate, notes University of Arizona Urban Planning Professor Sandi Rosenbloom, tend to head further out into the suburban periphery. “Everybody in this business wants to talk about the odd person who moves downtown, but it’s basically a ‘man bites dog story,'” she says. “Most retire in place.”

Historically, immigrants have helped prop up urban markets. But since 1980 the percentage who settle in urban areas has dropped to 34% from 41%. Some 52% are now living in suburbs, up from 44% 30 years ago. This has turned places such as Bergen County, N.J., Fort Bend County, Texas, and the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles into the ultimate exemplars of multicultural America.
…
But lower prices, or a shift to rentals, could prove financially devastating for urban developers and their investors, who now may be slow to re-enter the market. And for many cities, the bust could represent a punishing fiscal blow, given the subsidies lavished on many projects during the era of urbanist frenzy.

The condo bust should provide a cautionary tale for developers, planners and the urban political class, particularly those political “progressives” who favor using regulatory and fiscal tools to promote urban densification. It is simply delusional to try forcing a market beyond proven demand.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, New Development | 165 Comments

$1.3 Billion? Poof!

Posted on July 5, 2010 by grim

From the Daily Record:

Property values decline $1.3B in Morris County NJ over past year

The value of all taxable property in Morris County dropped $1.3 billion in the past year, after growing for most years in the past decade.

The county’s total value still is almost $102 billion but the 1.2 percent drop — which mirrors declining real estate values nationwide — means that local governments can no longer rely on an expanding ratable base to help fund budgets. Some are already cutting personnel and services.

The property value decline has been fueling tax appeals in some towns and meanwhile foreclosure actions continue to increase, with so many filed so far this year that Morris County’s hearing schedule for them already stretches into December.
…
For most of the 2000s, Morris County’s property values grew, spurred by job growth and a healthy housing market. Even after 2008, when Wall Street collapsed and the national economy soured, Morris County’s property values grew, adding a shade more than $1 billion in 2008 and about $500 million in 2009.

But now 30 of the county’s 39 towns have recorded drops in their 2010 net valuations — a measure of the value of all taxable property in a municipality.
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New ratables are scarce as less land is available for new development: some has been preserved as open space and farmland and the state has implemented tighter rules about water use, septic systems, sewers, and building in watershed lands. In 2000, 3,163 building permits were approved. By 2007, the number had dropped to 908. In the first four months of 2010, Morris has seen 119 permit filings, the New Jersey Builders Association reported. If that rate continues for the year, there would be fewer that 500 permits sought for the year.

As home values sank the number of tax appeals jumped, from 800 in 2004 to 3,180 this year.

And, the number of home foreclosures increased, from 298 in 2004 to 468 in 2008, according to the county sheriff’s office records. In six months this year, the number of foreclosures hit 523, up 111 percent over the same period in 2009. The sheriff’s office schedule of foreclosure sales already reaches into December.

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Property Taxes | 64 Comments

Pending home sales slow drop dive plunge

Posted on July 2, 2010 by grim

From the BBC:

US home sales dive record 30% as tax break is removed

Contracts for sales of previously-owned homes plunged a record 30% in May, far higher than expected.

The figures came in a survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

A tax break, designed to boost sales, was withdrawn at the end of April, and a fall in deals was expected, but at around 12%, more than half the level actually recorded.

The break had galvanised the market, but these figures show it has floundered without it.

The NAR said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in May, not only fell by a record amount, but hit a record low of 77.6, from 110.9 in April.

From Bloomberg:

Pending Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Fell 30% in May

The number of contracts to purchase previously owned houses plunged in May by more than twice as much as forecast after a homebuyer tax credit expired.
…
“Demand will be pretty depressed in the next few months,” Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida, said before the report. “We’re still going to have a big overhang of foreclosures. There’s potential for prices to slow down a lot more.”

From Reuters:

U.S. May pending home sales plunge 30 pct-Realtors

The index is 15.9 percent lower than May 2009 and fell sharply in all regions of the country.

Contracts fell 33.3 percent in the South, the country’s largest region, and dropped 20.9 percent in the West. Contracts dropped 31.6 percent in the Northeast and fell 32.1 percent in the Midwest.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 324 Comments

Too radical?

Posted on July 1, 2010 by grim

From New Jersey Newsroom:

Christie can cut billions more from N.J. budget if he really believes in limited government

Governor Christie’s property tax cap allows residents to override the 2.5% cap. What is the point of a cap then? Self government means that voters should be able to determine how much they want to spend on municipal services and schools. Local officials are supposed to be held accountable to voters who “hire” them at every election. If the officials are not good stewards of the public’s money, they should be fired by the voters when they seek another term in office.

If homeowners and residents in upper income towns want to increase spending on municipal services by 5% or more, they should go for it. After all, it’s their money. The governor should not object to self government. Besides, a 2.9% cap is an unwarranted interference in local governance.

To limit property tax increases, state government should give mayors and council as well as boards of education the tools to negotiate with police and teachers’ unions so taxpayers are not raked over the coals. Municipalities should not be at a disadvantage in negotiating with unions over salaries and work rules. Eliminating police salary arbitration should be the first reform enacted.

However, the Governor and the Legislature are not addressing the real issues facing the state: the redistribution of income from the suburbs to the cities, the unfairness of school property taxes and the entitlement philosophy that undermines most state spending.

The solution to the redistribution of income and high property taxes is 1) phasing out the state income tax over the next three years so residents around the state will have more of their money to pay for local services; 2) municipalities should charge fees for services; 3) and phasing out the entitlement spending that is driving costs higher every year in the state.

For example, in towns with swimming pools, like the one I used to live in, the town charged a fee to use the facility. This principle could be extended to libraries and schools. In fact, schools are “outsourcing” summer school this year; parents have to pay tuition for classed their children will be taking. In the fall, schools are implementing athletic fees. In other words, fees for services are being introduced in towns to deal with the fiscal crisis.

The next fiscal reform should be phasing out school property taxes over the next three years. The angst over property taxes will end once-and-for-all as municipalities no longer tax to fund public education. Parents would be in charge of education spending as teachers and administrators would have to structure the nonprofit schools for optimal performance — high quality and reasonable costs. In short, the empowerment of parents in education decisions would be maximized.

Critics will object that the “dismantling of public education” will be intolerable for children, but what they really mean is that they don’t want to eliminate the public school monopoly. Frederic Bastiat said it best more than 150 years ago:

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.”

And entitlement spending too must be phased out. Nonprofit institutions should be responsible for delivering health, counseling and other services the state, counties and local governments now provide. Phasing out of government welfare spending does not mean that people should suffer. On the contrary, it means the people of New Jersey would contribute directly to the best organizations that are assisting our fellow citizens in need. Charitable giving is humane; as Bastiat remarked, the welfare state is “phony philanthropy.”

Posted in National Real Estate, Property Taxes | 168 Comments

SPCS: NY Metro Home Prices Hit New Low

Posted on June 29, 2010 by grim

Unlike the rest of the country, prices here are still falling. Remember folks, the SPCS NY Metro Area includes most of Northern NJ.

From the Wall Street Journal:

A Look at Case-Shiller, by Metro Area

The S&P/Case-Shiller Composite 20 home price index, a broad gauge of U.S. home prices, posted a 0.8% gain in April from a month earlier and rose 3.8% from 2009, as the expiration of a federal tax credit boosted prices.

Eighteen cities posted month-to-month increases in April, but price levels remain close to April 2009 lows. Miami and New York were the only two cities to post monthly drops, dropping 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively. New York posted a new relative index low. San Diego has now shown 12 consecutive months of positive returns. It is the only market that didn’t contract in the late winter months.

From the Record:

April home prices shored up by tax credit

Home prices declined 1 percent in the New York metropolitan area, which includes North Jersey, from April 2009 to April 2010, the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index reported Tuesday. Prices in the region are back to the levels of April 2004, and are 21.7 percent below their peaks in June 2006.

From CNN/Money:

Home prices up 3.8% in April – but don’t celebrate

Once the tax credit fully expires, home prices are likely to take a beating, according to Pat Newport, a housing market analyst for IHS Global Insight.

“The housing glut and foreclosures will drive the national Case-Shiller index down another 6% to 8%, with prices bottoming in 2011,” he said.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate | 181 Comments

$34 million in lost first time homebuyer credits for NJ

Posted on June 29, 2010 by grim

From the Record:

Tax-credit deadline looms for prospective homebuyers

Luis Ponce of Union City is closing on a Westwood home Wednesday — he hopes.

If the closing is delayed, Ponce and his wife won’t qualify for a federal tax credit of $8,000, which they plan to spend on repairs, paint and a washer and dryer for the house.

“If we don’t get the money, that’s going to be a big setback for us,” said Ponce, an information technology specialist.

With the tax credit expiring Wednesday, it’s crunch time for buyers, real estate agents, lawyers and lenders. While the National Association of Realtors has pushed for an extension, as of Monday, Congress had not acted to extend the deadline. The credit is available to buyers who signed a contract by April 30, as long as they close by June 30.

“Time is running out,” said Paul Marino, a Hackensack real estate lawyer.

Ponce’s agent, Tony Sanchez of Weichert in Clifton, is working on six deals he hopes will close by Wednesday. Two of them, he said, probably won’t make the deadline. In one case, there are problems with the property’s title; in the other, the lender requires repairs that may not be done in time.

But Sanchez was optimistic about the Ponces’ purchase, which involves a bank-owned property that needed repairs before the town will issue a certificate of occupancy.

Short sales, in which the lender accepts less than is owed on the mortgage, typically are more complicated and time-consuming than regular sales. As a result, some buyers in these deals won’t be able to meet the deadline.

“Short sales take forever,” said real estate lawyer Patricia Kieck of Hackensack. Two of her clients who had hoped to close by Wednesday won’t make it. One case, she said, is a short sale where a second mortgage and judgments have clouded the title.

“Sixty days from contract to closing: sometimes that’s a tight squeeze unless everything is smooth and there are no issues,” Kieck said.

The NAR estimates there are 4,300 buyers in New Jersey and 180,000 nationwide who are in the process of buying a house and are eligible for the tax credit but will not be able to meet the June 30 deadline.

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 181 Comments

Welcome (Back) Home!

Posted on June 27, 2010 by grim

From the Record:

Riding out the recession at Mom’s

Angelo Onello III, a 28-year-old civil engineer and musician, would like to move out of his parents’ place in Ramsey. But he’s not willing to pay as much as $1,200 a month for a North Jersey apartment.

“What’s left for savings?” he asked recently. “Living at home is fine.”

Like Onello, many young adults decide it makes economic sense to live with their parents. In North Jersey, the high cost of housing is one reason, but the recession that started in late 2007 has also forced many families to double up.

In the first half of this decade, about 1.25 million net new households were formed each year, according to Census Bureau figures. But from 2005 to 2009, that number fell to fewer than 750,000 new households a year, according to two recent census reports.

“From 2007 to 2008, the number of Americans living in a multi-generational family household grew by 2.6 million,” the Pew Research Center wrote in a recent report that cited “high unemployment and rising foreclosures.”

“It is clear the most recent recession impacted individuals’ decisions to move out on their own,” said Gary Painter, a professor at the University of Southern California.

Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 185 Comments