New Jersey Real Estate Agent

West Windsor NJ Real Estate – Homes For Sale Inventory January 2008

What is the condition of the real estate market in the West Windsor NJ and
other surrounding towns in the greater Princeton area? Homeowners,
not just those who are currently selling or buying their house are
concerned about the implications of the sub-prime mortgage problems and
predictions of further home price declines. The answer for West Windsor may be the most positive one.

The Press has been consistently reporting that now is the buyers market and that five years ago it was sellers market.
By this, people usually mean who has the upper hand in the market, or
whether there are more buyers than sellers in the market.  In the buyers market home prices usually decline, in the sellers market – home prices increase.

In the real estate language buyers and sellers market are often defined  by inventory accumulation,
which means how many months it would take to sell the houses on the
market now (at the average historical monthly sales rate), if no
additional houses came on the market. This technical sounding term is a
result of simple arithmetic: dividing the total number of the available
houses on the market by the average number of sales per months. For
example, if there are currently 20 houses on the market and on the
average 2 houses per month are sold, the inventory accumulation equals
two.

In the past it was believed that the buyers market is when the inventory accumulation exceeds 6 months. It is considered to be the sellers market when inventory accumulation is less then 6 months.

West Windsor inventory accumulation is one of the lowest in the area at 3 months. Looking at the chart bellow it would appear that Hopewell NJ is the only market (out of the five examined) that by this definition is buyers market.

West Windsor NJ Housing Inventory January 2008*

The following are the conclusions for what this information means for the West Windsor NJ real estate.

This data seems to contradict what we hear on the news about the real estate markets that it is a buyers market. What is happening is that the sellers are holding off putting their homes on the market, or taking them off the market, resulting in the low supply of homes for sale and driving the inventory accumulation numbers down. This does not necessarily mean that the prices of homes will go up (which is what usually happens when there is scarcity of supply).  The buyers are not rushing into the market and are waiting for the prices to go down.

For the Princeton area home buyers in West Windsor NJ this means availability of good supply of homes for sale without the pressure of the imminent price increases. For the West Windsor house sellers the low inventory can ease the downward pressure on home prices. It does not mean that home sellers can now count on home appreciation if they bought their home within the last two-three years.

You can read more about the Princeton NJ area real estate statistics in the following articles:

Princeton NJ Mercer County Real Estate – West Windsor Housing Prices 2004-2007

Princeton Mercer County NJ Real Estate – Secrets to selling your house like an agent.

Princeton Mercer County NJ Real Estate -Secrets To Buying A Home Like A Realtor

Princeton Mercer County NJ Real Estate Sellers- 3 Things That Sell Houses Now

Princeton Mercer County NJ Real Estate – 5 Deadly Mistakes When Selling Your House

Princeton Mercer County NJ Real Estate – Prices of Houses Sold in Princeton -January 2008

*Data is based on Trend MLS and is not guaranteed.

Please contact Faina Sechzer at 609-553-4175 with questions about real estate, homes for sale and/or listing your house to sell, and relocation assistance in Princeton, Montgomery Township, West Windsor, Hopewell, and Lawrenceville New Jersey. Referrals are accepted.
If you are moving out of the greater Princeton area, please inquire about the countrywide relocation program.