Despite what appears to be a slight slowdown, U.S. home prices continue to rise in most regions, excluding those areas where appreciation has been in the double-digits for years.
In New Jersey, we have seen single family home prices rise on average by 4.1% while inventory has fallen by 12.8% year-over-year.
New Jersey has not seen a surge in the price of homes other regions of the country has seen. Morris County has seen home prices increase by 7.1% while Bergen County average price fell by 2.9% from 2018. Salem County posted the biggest gain in the median sales price, skyrocketing by 22.9% to $141,000. But still such gains are atypical for the state.
According to the National Association of Realtors® [NAR], it sees “the median price of existing-home sales will continue increasing, but at a slower pace of 4% in 2019, to $269,000, and 3% in 2020, to $278,500.”
According to a January 2019 report from the NAR, home prices in the U.S. rose 47% over the past six years, while wages only rose by 16%. They see U.S. prices will gradually slow to a normal and sustainable pace. The stability of the market could point to a good time to buy a home.
Some of the incentive to buy in the coming months rests upon the fact that mortgage rates are currently resting at historically low levels.
On a historic note, an article published by Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management cites that the current election cycle may support buying a home in the coming year.
Presidential Elections and Stock Market Cycles, written by Marshall Nickles, found that all of the major stock market declines occurred during the first or second years of the four-year U.S. presidential cycle. No major declines occurred during the third or fourth years. More specifically, from 1950 to 2004 (using the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index), the most favorable period (MFP) for investing was from October 1 of the second year of a presidential term to December 31 of the fourth year. [https://bit.ly/2mcE0Xy]