In the midst of a very strong real estate market, some communities have fared better than others: one is Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
According to Wikipedia, “Ocean Grove was founded in 1869 as an outgrowth of the camp meeting movement in the United States, when a group of Methodist clergymen, led by William B. Osborn and Ellwood H. Stokes, formed the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to develop and operate a summer camp meeting site on the New Jersey seashore.”
The religiously historic town now has a three-story home located on Ocean Pathway in Ocean Grove, listed for $1.35 million. For some beach towns, that price-tag might be normal, but this house was bought for $135,000 in 2008. Not even the stock market provides returns like that!
The aphorism “a rising tide lifts all boats” is associated with the idea that improvements in the general economy will benefit all participants in that economy is surely raising the real estate values within the Ocean Grove market.
One of the reasons for this real estate revival is due to the renewal of Ocean Grove’s neighboring towns, including Asbury Park and Bradley Beach. According to some reports, millions of dollars have been spent renovating Asbury Park since the years of the Great Recession, making Asbury Park one of New Jersey’s new destination locations. Asbury Park’s recent investment to build a multi-billion-dollar redevelopment plan for the town’s waterfront will add 2,100 homes, 300 hotel rooms and various other mixed-use developments.
Property values have increased by more than 25 percent since 2014 in Ocean Grove.
Ocean Grove’s average tax bill is $6,176; this compares to Asbury Park’s average of $5,150.
In one of Counsellors Title’s recent blogs, we noted that Ocean and Monmouth counties posted the most pending sales for February in New Jersey.