Archive for November, 2008
The Hoboken Open House Interactive Google Map - 11/29 & 11/30
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Open House Map
Plan a Color-Coded Hoboken Open House Tour!
We made a nice improvement to our weekly Hoboken Open House Google Map. The property markers are color coded according to condo unit size.
- Red dots are for 1 bedroom condos
- Green dots are 2 bedroom condos
- Yellow dots are 3 bedroom condos & houses
In addition, the Deal of the Week is indicated with a bright, yellow dollar sign. You can ignore the blue markers as they are from last week. (If there will be an open house next week as it saves us a bunch of time). Take a look - it’s way easier to read.
Hoboken Open House Google Map
You’ll notice that there are very few open houses in Hoboken this weekend. A slow down during the holiday season is to be expected. Many people leave Hoboken to visit family or hit the mall. Maybe less buyer traffic will make jittery sellers drop asking prices. There are some good deals out there, especially when you consider that interest rates are down again.
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Happy Thanksgiving Hoboken!
Categories: Hoboken Condos
We hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends. No matter how bad we think things are here in Hoboken, there are many people in the world way worse off than we are so let’s be thankful today for all that we do have.
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How Bad Is It? - Part 2
Categories: For Buyers, Hoboken Condos, Market Analysis
Have Things Really Changed That Much In the Hoboken Condo Market?
by Lori Turoff
The Turoff Realty Team at Prudential Castle Point Realty
It seems like the market has slowed down. But has it? I took a look, by month, of the number of Hoboken condos listed and the number sold. I went all the way back to this time in 2006. Here are the results:
Note - November is only “to date” so it’s less than it should be for the full month.
There has been a downward trend in the number of for sale Hoboken condos since 2 years go. There was a big dip in new listings this September, when all the bad economic news hit the media, but then a spike in October. November is down, so far.
The number of Hoboken condos sold does not show a clear trend. There were an exceptionally large number of closings in March of this year. It may still be too early to see the results of the current economic melt down. Deals that should have been made in September would typically close in November or December. Maybe the low number of condo sales in November is not due to the few missing days, but is a real decline in deal activity.
Absorption rate is a classic way to measure the strength of a real estate market. The average number of Hoboken condos sold each month since the beginning of 2008 has been about 67 condos per month. Right now, there are about 519 Hoboken condo units for sale. At the rate of 67 sales per month, it would take 7.75 months for the current condo inventory in Hoboken to sell out. Keep in mind that these figures reflect only units on the MLS and not those sold directly by the developer (such as Maxwell Place condos sold by the Toll sales office). But then, the numbers also don’t reflect sales by the sales office either. A 5 month supply of housing at any given time is considered neutral. Less than that is considered a sellers market, more a buyers market. According to these figures, Hoboken is not as bad as other areas of the country. Parts of Florida and Las Vegas have years worth of inventory on hand. The recent drop in interest rates should help increase the rate of sales as well.
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The Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up - Hoboken Condo Sales & Inventory for the Week of Nov. 26th
Categories: Hoboken Condos
Written by Lori Turoff
Realtor Associate at Prudential Castle Point Realty
201 993 9500 or info@hobokensbest.com
Studio & 1 Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
2 sold in an average of 127 days at an average sale price of $438,750
2 under contract this week in an average of 60 days.
706 Willow original list price $299,000 in August.
Note - Only properties with price drops are listed. The others went under contract or were sold at their original asking price. I thought it would be interesting to see how far sellers had to drop the price to get some action.
169 total active with an average asking price of $485,089 with 7 price changes.
13 new listings with an average list price of $394,153
Two Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
8 2BRs sold in an average of 66 days at an average sale price of $538,375
Original list prices:
409 4th St. $475,000 in Sept. sold for $450,000
416 Grand $546,000 in July sold for $515,000
705 Adams $629,000 in Sept. sold for $520,000
89 Willow $733,950 in Dec. sold for $605,000
5 2BRs under contract this week in an average of 109 days.
1114 Hudson original list price $639,900 in June.
65 Jefferson original list price $615,000 in September.
909 Garden $819,000 in October.
1425 Garden - get this - the asking price was increased from $1,100,000 in March to $1,200,000!
70 active 2 BR condos up to $500,000
223 active 2BR condos over $500,000
The combined combined average asking price of all 293 active 2BR condos is $651,915 with 25 price changes.
6 new 2BR listings with an average list price of $659,749
Three Bedroom and Larger Hoboken Condos:
None under contract or sold this week.
57 active 3BR condos for sale with an average asking price of $985,420 with 5 price changes.
5 new listings with an average list price of $604,759
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The Hoboken Condo Market - How Bad Is It?
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Condos
By Lori Turoff - info@hobokensbest.com
Is Manhattan Real Estate Fairing Better Than Hoboken?
There was an interesting article in the Sunday NY Times Real Estate section about Manhattan condo & co-op inventory. The point made was that while prices have remained flat so far in the 4th quarter, inventory has risen indicating a sharp deterioration in the market as the economy and consumer confidence falls.
Unlike Manhattan, in Hoboken, condo sales prices dropped in October. Inventory has been growing steadily in Hoboken as it has in Manhattan. Back in February, when I started tracking the number of active Hoboken condo listings, there were 384 condo units for sale in Hoboken. Today there are 526 condos for sale in Hoboken.
The Hoboken Condo Buyers Are Missing
More startling, last year, during the month of October, 78 Hoboken condos went under contract and 62 Hoboken condo units closed. This October, only 18 Hoboken condo units went under contract and only 9 units closed. Due to the time lag between the time a property goes under contract and the actual closing (typically 45 days) the real declines will show up in the November and December numbers. The bottom line, however, is that the Hoboken condo market has come to a near stand-still. As long as the credit markets are frozen and consumers remain nervous about jobs, bonuses and the economy, the picture is not likely to change.
Is There a Silver Lining?
Is there a bright side to the market turmoil? Some owners simply must sell. They may be relocating for work, have outgrown their current space, are in contract somewhere else or the like. Buyers may find that they can get a Hoboken condo at a substantially discounted price right now. Assuming they are buying for the long term, say at least 5 years, that might not be a bad thing. Just as some people are forced to sell right now, there are buyers who need more space for a growing family or are moving to the metropolitan area and find Hoboken more affordable than Manhattan. Who knows, we may even find some of the people forced out of Manhattan will downsize and come to Hoboken.
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