South Jersey counties offer some of the lowest home prices. Find out which ones here
New Jersey had the 17th highest median home value in America as of late 2023, but new home buyers looking to save money might have some luck keeping south in the Garden State.
Data from the National Association of Realtors show that median home values in counties close to the Philadelphia metropolitan area are roughly half the cost as homes in Bergen County — which can sell for upward of $607,000.
The data uses the Census Bureau's American Community Survey of median housing prices for 3,112 counties and county equivalents across the U.S. Home values reflect the overall worth of all homes in a given area rather than solely home sales data, according to the association.
Homes in Mercer and Burlington counties were priced at about $388,410 and $344,320, respectively, but homes in Gloucester, Camden and Salem counties were between $40,000 to almost $100,000 less than those.
Cumberland County had the lowest price in the state at $214,400
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The table below shows what the median home value was in each county as of the third quarter of 2023 and provides the state and national ranking for that price.
Cost of living driving New Jerseyans out
The housing market in New Jersey seems to be trending positive right now, according to data from Realtor.com.
About 16 of 21 counties appeared on the 100 Hottest Markets list for February, including Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer counties.
The number of new listings (7,262) is about 19% higher compared to last month while total listings (10,825) are up less than 1% over last month but down about 9% compared to last year.
According to a recent Monmouth University Poll, nearly half of New Jersey residents would like to leave the state over high taxes and a high cost of living overall.
About 48% of residents said they would like to leave New Jersey while about 26% of residents told researchers they were “very likely” to leave.
While that is a drop from almost 60% of residents who said they wanted to leave the state in 2022, a Monmouth University report notes that this week’s results have been consistent with polling responses going as far back as 2010.
One silver lining noted in the report is that most people who want to leave say they will wait for retirement, and New Jersey is implementing a new tax break meant to retain senior residents.
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Starting in 2026, the Stay NJ program is expected to cut property taxes in half for almost all senior homeowners.
Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said the program might help retain a good amount of residents if the state can do a better job informing homeowners.
“Hypotheticals in polling have to be taken with a grain of salt. However, these results suggest that the Stay NJ program will have at least some success meeting its goal of retaining a good number of senior homeowners who would otherwise leave the state,” Murray said in a Monmouth news release.
“It’s worth noting that it will also have an impact on homeowners at the lower end of the income scale who don’t plan to leave because it is simply not an option for them,” Murray added.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Property taxes, cost of living driving out New Jersey homeowners
