If you’ve been thinking about buying a home in Aberdeen, you may not have realized how quickly home prices have been rising. As of the end of August, the median price of a single-family home in Aberdeen has increased by 5% compared to a year ago. So have you missed your chance to buy a home in Aberdeen, or is this still a good time?
To try to answer that question, let’s look at Aberdeen’s 8 month year-to-date statistics, focusing on the 4 key objective real estate indicators (items in bold font are good news for home sellers, but bad news for home buyers; items in underlined italic font are bad news for home sellers, but good news for home buyers):
Sales: 90 in 2012, 93 in 2013 (+3%)
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Listings: 108 in 2012, 73 at the end of August 2013 (-32%)
Median Sales Price: $295,000 in 2012, $309,900 in 2013 (+5%)
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Absorption Rate: 11.2 months in 2012, 6.7 months now (much stronger Demand vs. Supply)
As you can see, all 4 of the indicators are good news for home sellers and bad news for home buyers. All 4 indicators are also predicting higher home prices. If you aren’t familiar with the real estate absorption rate, take a look at last month’s blog post. The take-away message is that a “normal market” is between 5 and 7 months. In one year Aberdeen changed from a “buyer’s market” into a “normal market”. If you’re looking to buy, you’re going to have to pay more than you would have a year ago, but count yourself lucky to be in a “normal market” that has just a 5% median price increase, when nationwide home prices have increased by 12%.
Traditionally there's an upswing in the number of home sales between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, and then a relatively quiet real estate market until early spring. If you're thinking of buying a home in Aberdeen, look now while there's still a good supply of homes on the market. If you find a home you like, you'd be wise to lock in a mortgage interest rate before the rates go up again.
Currently there are15 homes listed for sale in Aberdeen for less than $200,000 (all in the Cliffwood/Cliffwood Beach section); there are 19 homes listed in the $200 - $300 thousand dollar range (many also in the Cliffwood/Cliffwood Beach section), and 25 more in the $300 - $400 thousand dollar range. Homes above the median price tend to be in the Strathmore section.
Remember, if you find a listing for a home in Aberdeen you like, DON’T CALL THE LISTING AGENT. The Listing Agent works for the Seller, and has a fiduciary responsibility to get the highest price. You want to work with a REALTOR® whose undivided loyalty is to YOU, and who will negotiate the LOWEST price.
I'd be glad to help you find exactly what you're looking for in Aberdeen- just call, text or email me and I'll get right back to you.
Len
Leonard “Len” Dunikoski, GRI
REALTOR® Associate
Diane Turton Realtors – Rumson Office
8 West River Road
Rumson, NJ 07760
(732) 239-0739 (cell) (732) 530-6686 (office)
