Despite its quiet backwater charms, Hudson County in The Garden State used to be nicknamed “The Gold Coast” due to its proximity to the financial district of neighboring New York City. Thanks to The Great Recession, however, properties have been on the market for up to well over a year – despite repeated discounts – and there appears to be no end in sight for exasperated sellers.
It’s true that local properties are being sold regularly, if not rapidly. However, the backlog of inventory for condominiums and single-family houses is tremendous. The way things are, it might be some twenty-four months before everything is moved…unless new offerings become available!
Compare that to the typical six-month inventory that industry professionals consider the sign of a healthy market.
Naturally, we are speaking generally here: it’s certain that at some times, some particular places in this area have done pretty good. But nowhere is the outlook entire positive, over time, even for those upscale locales, to say nothing of more modest parts of communities such as Jersey City or Hoboken (never mind West New York or Guttenberg!).
In fact, it is just such a situation which has visited the rest of the country from Oregon and Texas to Ohio and, as just described, New York. And in a sign of how bad things will continue to be, even though foreclosures continue apace and vacant homes only depress prices all the more, no one’s buying. It’s a singular situation that even professionals such as real estate developer Isaac Toussie are confounded, where even with the prevalence of bargains sales should still remain flat!
But of course, what person in his or her right mind would sign up, never mind give, a multi-decade loan in this kind of an economy?