Bergen County Real Estate Market SURPRISING April 2025 Update!

To the deep dive. And today we're zeroing in. Really laser focused on something probably on a lot of your minds.

Real estate specifically right here in Bergen County, New Jersey.

Exactly. We've got a really fresh, like, real time snapshot. This is as of April 19, 2025.

Yeah, this comes from a detailed market profile. Scott Selleck over at KW City Views Realty, put it together.

Right. And our mission today? Yeah, we want to cut through the noise, you know, get past the headlines.

Dig into the actual insights. What's really happening on the ground?

Yeah, we're talking medium prices, how fast homes are actually selling, the. The overall market vibe.

And we've got some key numbers coming up that, well, they paint a pretty clear picture.

Great, let's dive right in then. This snapshot. What's the headline number?

All right, so for single family homes across the whole county, the median list price right now, $985,000.

985. Okay.

But here's where it gets interesting. If you look just at the new listings hitting the market, the median price there is actually lower. It's $800,000.

Oh, okay. That's a pretty significant difference. $800 for new versus 985k overall median.

It is. And those new listings, they're coming in around $418 per square foot, median wise.

Hmm. So that gap between the overall median and the price of the brand new listings, what do you think is behind that? Are sellers maybe, I don't know, adjusting expectations a bit?

That's a really good question. It could suggest a couple of things. Maybe some older listings, perhaps priced higher initially, are still pulling that overall median up.

Right. The ones that have been sitting a.

Bit longer, or maybe it does hint at a slight shift. You know, sellers being a tad more conservative with their pricing on new entries makes sense. Now, looking at how long things are taking to sell, this is fascinating. The average days on market is 86 days.

86 days average. Okay, that sounds like quite a while. Actually.

It can seem like it, but then you look at the median days on market, and that's just 21 days. Much, much faster.

Wow. Okay. 86 average, 21 median. That's a huge difference. What does that tell us about the, like, the typical experience?

Exactly. It highlights that while, yes, some homes might linger, maybe they're overpriced or unique, the typical home, half of them are selling in 21 days or less. That points to a market where, you know, if it's priced right, it moves.

It moves fast.

Very fast. And we also see about 11% of listings had a price decre. Only 1% saw an increase, and about 14% were relisted properties. So you get a feel for how sellers are reacting, adjusting to feedback.

So things are moving quickly for many homes. What does the supply side look like? How many homes are actually up for grabs right now?

Good question. The current inventory, Single family homes in Bergen county, it's sitting at 688.

608 homes.

Okay. And just as a side note, for renters, the median rent is about $4200.

Got it.

But to really gauge the market's temperature, it's balanced. We need to look at the market action index.

Right, the market action index. Okay, refresh my memory. What does that number actually tell us? It's currently 54, you said?

Yep, 54. Think of it like a supply and demand gauge for housing. It measures the rate of sales versus the current inventory.

Okay. So high number means.

High number means demand is outpacing supply. It's a seller's market. Lower number, buyers have more leverage. It runs 0 to 100.

So 54. Yeah, that sounds pretty strong for sellers then.

Definitely. The report categorizes anything over. I think it's 30 as leaning towards sellers. But 54 puts us squarely in strong sellers market territory.

A strong seller's market.

Yeah.

Okay, and has it been like this for a while or is this a recent shift? How does 54 compare to, say, last month?

Good point. It's actually ticked up. Last month the index was at 47.

Oh, wow. So it's gotten even stronger for sellers recently.

It has. And what's interesting is that inventory level, the 688 homes, that's held pretty steady.

Huh. So the increased index isn't because fewer homes came on the market.

Exactly. It seems to be more about the pace of sales picking up rather than a drop in supply. Demand is just robust.

That paints a clear picture. Strong seller's market overall. But the report breaks it down further. Right. Into price segments. Why is that important?

Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, the experience isn't the same across the board. Splitting it into four segments, basically quartiles by price, gives us a much more granular view.

Makes sense. The million dollar plus market probably behaves differently than the, say, entry level.

Precisely. So let's start at the very top. The top segment here. The median price is way up there, around $3,250,000.

Okay. Big numbers. Yeah.

And these are usually large homes. Median square footage is almost 7,000. Think six bags, 6.5 baths.

Right.

They also tend to be a bit newer. Relatively speaking. Median age is 25 years.

Okay. And activity in that top tier.

So in the snapshot period, there were 18 new listings in this segment and 11 homes went under contract or were absorbed, as the report calls it.

18 new, 11 absorbed. And how long do those take to sell?

The median days on market for this top segment was 70 days.

70. Okay, so definitely longer than that overall 21 day median we talked about.

Much longer. So yes, things are selling even at the high end, but it takes more time to find that right buyer.

Got it. What happens as we move down a step? The next segment down.

All right, moving to the upper segment. Median price here is around $1,452,500.

Still substantial, but a different bracket.

Exactly. Median size is smaller, around 2,700 square feet. Typically four beds, 3.5 baths. Interestingly, the median age jumps up quite a bit here to 65 years old.

Great. Older housing stock.

Yeah.

And sales pace here.

We saw 34 new listings and notably 42 home absorbed. So more went under contract than came on market in that period.

Oh, interesting. Demand is high there.

Yeah. And the median days on market drops right down to 21 days.

Ah, so it matches the overall market median exactly. It seems like a very active part of the market.

It really does. Strong activity in that sort of upper middle range.

Okay, let's keep going down. What about the next segment? The. The lower segment?

So the lower segment, median price here is about $799,000. Let's call it 800K. All right, median size around 2,300 square feet. Typically four beds, 2.5 baths. And these homes are older still. Median age 75 years.

Right. A lot of mid century type homes.

Maybe could be activity here. 49 new listings, 44 absorbed. So pretty balanced in peat output and the speed.

Days on market.

Get this. Median days on market is just 10 days.

10. Wow. Okay. That's incredibly fast.

It's rapid. If you're buying in that range, you basically need to be ready to make an offer almost immediately.

No kidding. All right, what about the most, let's say accessible segment, the bottom segment.

Okay, bottom segment, median price around $599,000. So let's say $600.

Right.

These are the smallest. Median 1,544 square feet. Usually three beds, two baths. And they're the oldest group. Median age 85 years.

Wow, 85 years median age.

Yeah. Activity was strong here too. 50 new listings, 49 absorbed. Almost perfect balance again.

And days on market still fast.

Very fast. Median days on market here is 14 days.

14. So 10 days in the seg days here. Both incredibly quick.

Absolutely. It really drives home the point.

It really does. I mean, seeing 70 days at the top versus 10 or 14 days at the bottom, it starkly illustrates how different price points experience the market differently.

Exactly. And it confirms that generally speaking, higher price tags mean a longer selling process. It's a fundamental real estate principle playing out right there in the data.

Yeah. Now this snapshot is super useful. Gives us that right now feeling. Yeah, but how does this fit into the bigger picture? We need to look at the trends over time, right?

Yes, definitely. Looking at the historical data helps us understand if this is a blip or part of a sustained pattern. The report includes charts going back to roughly October 2020.

Okay, perfect. Let's start with the big one, median list price. What's that trend look like from late 2020 up to now, April 2025?

Well, looking at both the quick seven day average and the smoother 90 day average, it's pretty much an upward climb steadily. There was, you know, significant growth, especially from late 2020 through maybe early 2022. Then maybe some periods where it flattened out a bit, some fluctuation, but the.

Overall direction, clearly upwards.

Today's median list prices are substantially higher than they were a few years back. No question.

Okay, and does the price per square foot follow that same path? Has value, like fundamentally increased?

Yes, largely. It mirrors the median price trend. You see that same significant growth, maybe some stabilization phases, but the overall trajectory is up.

So we went from what roughly back.

In late 2020, the 90 day average was maybe in the 300, $350 per square foot range. Now we're consistently in the low $400.

Got it. So houses are not just more expensive overall, they're more expensive per unit of space too.

That's right. The appreciation is real, even when you account for size differences.

Now, inventory, that's always such a critical piece. What have the trends been there? Has supply kept up?

Ah, inventory. That chart tells a slightly different story. While prices have mostly gone up, inventory levels haven't really followed suit recently.

Oh.

If you look back, especially before 2022, there were periods with, well, significantly more homes on the market.

Higher inventory back then.

Yeah. But the more recent trends, say over the last year or so leading into April 2025, it's been relatively stable, but at a lower level, hovering around that 688 mark we mentioned earlier.

So consistently lower supply more recently.

Exactly. And that sustained lower inventory, that's a Huge factor driving the strong sellers market conditions we're seeing now.

Right. Fewer choices means more competition among buyers. Which brings us back to the Market Action Index. How has that trended over time?

The Mai charts really show the shift quite dramatically. Go back to late 2020, early 2021. The index was often in more like neutral territory, sometimes even dipped towards favoring buyers.

A little more balance back then.

Yeah, but then starting maybe late 2021 through 2022 and onwards, you see this clear sustained climb into strong sellers territory.

Just kept going up pretty much.

And this current reading of 54, it's definitely on the higher end of the range we've seen over this whole period. It really highlights how sellers have gained and kept the upper hand.

The data is really consistent on that point. Okay, last trend. How quickly homes have been selling, the median days on market over time.

Right. The dom. That trend corresponds perfectly with everything else we've seen. Meaning the overall trend has been towards faster sales. While there were times, especially earlier in the period where the median DOM was higher, it's generally come down. The current 7 day and 90 day averages are relatively low historically for this period.

So homes are selling faster now than they were a few years years ago. Generally speaking, yes.

It reinforces that whole picture. Lower inventory, strong demand, leading to quicker sales, especially for well priced properties.

Okay, so let's try and synthesize all of this. If someone listening is trying to just get the, you know, the elevator pitch for the Bergen county market right now, mid April 2025, what is it?

The core message? It's unambiguously a strong seller's market. That's the headline. Okay, you've got high median list prices, nearly a million dollars overall. And while the average time on market seem long at 86 days, the median is a very quick 21 days. And it's even faster, like 10 to 14 days in those more affordable segments.

Yeah, those numbers were striking.

And underpinning all that is the Market action index at 54 showing strong demand relative to supply and inventory levels that have been consistently lower compared to a few years ago.

It's a very clear, consistent picture from the data. Strong seller's market, high prices, quick sales.

For many, that sums it up well.

So given all these dynamics, the high prices, the speed, this persistent seller advantage, it really makes you think, doesn't it? Like what are the bigger forces behind this? You know, what underlying economic things, or maybe social shifts are keeping the Bergen county market so hot?

That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Or maybe the three million dollar question depending on the segment.

Right. And for anyone actually thinking about buying or selling here, what critical questions should this data raise for them as they plan their move?

Yeah. What does this mean for your specific situation? Definitely some important things to mull over.

Absolutely. Some food for thought to leave you all with.