I closed this month, but I went into contract a few months ago.

Also, I had to match an offer someone put in in attorney review. People are paying asking or better.

If you don't believe me, stalk Trulia or Zillow or Realtor.Com and look at properties 07302 and 07310 and Hoboken and you will see what I'm talking about. If you see anything in good shape it will go in no time.

I didn't look in Harrison or JSQ so I can't speak to that, but for kicks I looked at some places on Zillow and it looks like Canco went up. I can't speak to other buildings. I always thought the places in Harrison right by the PATH were apartments not condos but I could be mistaken.

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from a purely investment standpoint, DTJC, Newport, JSquare, harrison, and hoboken are the only neighborhoods which make sense because of path access. I left off newark cause you know, it's newark. As for investment value, access to NYC is 1000000000x more important than a park....except if that park handed out gold.

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Bidding wars huh, my foot! What's that old saying don't believe the hype. First it's the developers and now the real estate industry. Anything for a fast buck.

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How recent is recent?

I recently purchased a 1BR condo in DTJC. There are many bidding wars and ANYTHING that is on a halfway decent blocks sells fast and if it's in a doorman building it will likely sell for at least asking.

I'm pretty happy as the lowest priced 1BR in my building is now over 100k more than the one I purchased.

If I had money to throw around, I'd invest in JSQ or the the part of the Heights closest to 100 steps...people want 24-7 city transportation and that is why the rest of JC will always lag.

That said Society Hill and the surrounding area is probably a decent investment because of the new HBLR stop and that area being regarded as fairly safe.

Also, Sandy isn't scaring anyone. Hoboken and notoriously flooding area of JC are just as hot as anywhere else.

LMAO idiots!

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I think I would say bitter is more appropriate, user1111 bought in downtown thinking that if he bought anything he would make money on appreciation, which is not always the case. If the property has minuses, bad views, strange layouts etc. you're going to be stuck with a dog that no one wants and will not appreciate, and he is now living in a neighborhood that is lagging behind all the other neighborhoods as the RE market starts to take off again.

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Why is it "bullshit" to notice that the housing market in New Jersey is starting to pick up?


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The article also points out how housing prices are up in Hudson and Bergen counties.

I really don't see any reason for negativity here.

With home values in downtown and heights on the upward trend, I do not understand why it is taking so long for JSQ to turn around?

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Why even include other parts of JC with this bullshit.... the other parts of JC do not have tons of condos. GV only has SH and PL and both were ruined in Sandy. This article is about condos on the waterfront not housing.FYI housing in GV pricing is declining but not homes near the lightrail. They have been steadily increasing. Anyway here are the comments from nj.com pretty funny stuff.

Marc Shakter
This article is a stretch at best... It's easy to say the market is warming up in this area so close to NY when there's no other housing readily available for people that work in NY. When you're given little to no alternative, of course people are going to snatch these places up. Have fun buying the air between some walls and then having to pay rent on it to boot.

BOINK!
My neighbor?s house has been on the market for 3 years and it is nice and affordable.

awildcat
There are 3 tenets that a buyer needs to consider: location, location and location. Perhaps, your friend's property doesn't fall into those categories. Affordability is very subjective.

FreeMySpeech
Location isn't everything. I think Storm Sandy proved that point. I have family and friends downtown, Jersey City with sweeping views of NYC -- amazing how I stayed dry and safe with running water and electricity while those "in great locations" had to move out because their places were no longer inhabitable. You must be a RE agent looking for new suckers. The NYT article must've been sponsored by the developers desperate to move their properties. Take a ride throughout JC and you'll see nothing but "for sale" or "for rent" signs. This is nothing more than fluff, at best.

awildcat
Henley-on-the-Hudson is selling like crazy. The article stated that well placed properties are going. Perhaps, the locations you refer to are not so well placed. Waterfront properties with a clear view of the NY skyline are going quickly. A few blocks back, not so much. Pulaski Skyway? How funny.

FreeMySpeech
No, the funny part is the developers looking to move their stagnant properties by fooling people into believing the units are "selling like crazy.? That my friend, is the hysterical part!

PropertyTaxSlave
Agreed. Total fabrication. Equivalent to a "Real Estate Reality Show.? All over Jersey City the condos for sale are almost all short sales and REO's.

Joe Schmoe
600k for a lousy 1 bedroom condo? What a joke. Probably just a bunch of finance industry crooks looking for a place to park their money and then flip the property to a bank.

navajorug
I ran the numbers on this for illustrative purposes. If you put 20% down ($120,000) on a $600,000 condo and finance the rest with a 30 year fixed rate mortgage at 4.5%, your mortgage payment is almost $2,500 per month. Add the taxes, insurance and condo fees, and you're probably dealing with a total cash outlay of $4,000 per month. With that in mind, I'd be better off keeping my $120,000 and renting a place nearby (or maybe even in the same building) for a heck of a lot less than $4,000/month -- right? Am I missing something here?

FreeMySpeech
Am I missing something here? You're not missing a thing! Totally on point and completely rational, too bad a good portion of society views life through rose colored glasses because they ruin it for the rest of us.

runaway government
Propertytaxslave, can you elaborate? How about an ounce of a statistical data to back up a claim, or even a quote from neutral source who has no skin in the game, e.g. someone other than those who would profit from you believing this story?

PropertyTaxSlave
You all mean like real journalism? With like ethics and stuff? Forget it.

lg823
I kind of see your point, but when renting you're paying someone else and the place will never be yours. At 4 ground a month on a mortgage at least in the end, it's yours and you're the owner.

navajorug
Right. But remember that it's going to take you 30 years to pay off the mortgage, and you may not want to even be the "owner" at that point. I'm also taking into account that these are condominiums, not detached homes -- where the presence of an association adds a further complication to the idea of "ownership" anyway.

dasgreat
Completely misleading article. Much like NYC properties, the ultra luxury waterfront NJ condo market saw little if any drop off compared to single family homes throughout the state. It has nothing to do with the housing market and everything to do with economics. The wealthy made money while the 99% lost it during the latest recession.

runaway government
There was nothing stopping you from investing in the stock market which saw record gains since the recession started.

dasgreat
What has that got to do with my point? For the record, my post wasn't a commentary on my personal financial picture. It was meant to contradict the claim that the ultra luxury housing market was on a comeback after having experienced a decline. I countered that that simply wasn't the case; those in the tax bracket that are able to afford a $1+ million dollar waterfront condo by and large saw their incomes increase while those earning much less saw a decline. Thus, they are able to spent briskly. The same could have been written about luxury car sales, diamonds or caviar.

runaway government
You post smacked of the OWS crowd, as if to say the 1% profited at the expense of the "99%". My point was, there was an opportunity for money to be made, regardless of income level.

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Yep I see great things happening in the Heights. It is a section that gives you that true J.C. feel without putting you in the heart of transient DT on top of the commuter scene. I like DT but home is where the heart is and for me the Heights has a lot of love in it. There are many untapped neighborhoods in the Heights, and on the east side of the area progress is taking place. There are many food options, parks, and the reservoir along with a sense of community with different local oriented events. The Heights is definitely on the rise hence the name !

Yep - the condo market is definitely heating up. Downtown, values are close to 2008 and climbing. I watch the market pretty closely and what's impressing me is the rise in the Heights - both houses and condos. Greenville is still struggling and from what I can see, Lafayette is pretty flat.

"...finally warming up?" The market has been improving since early 2012... Much to my dismay... JJ at the forefront of reporting.

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Been there, done that, Sold one five years ago, and I still have one that I am renting currently and waiting for the market to recover so I can get rid of it. My maintenance fee there is more than my current mortgage. Condo's are not just not for me.

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I agree, but don't knock it unless you tried it. There's a give and take to it as well.

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Yes, let's disparage other people's choices some more. Lots of people like condos and even the houses here have neighbors 'up your ass'.

There are a lot of good reasons to buy a condo, or a house depending upon what your preference is, where you want to live and what you can afford. And, no, I don't own a condo.

I would never be suckered into buying a condo. I love living in a house, not a box with neighbors up my ass. NO THANKS! Good luck to you!

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real estate is all about location location location. It is why a 1BR in a luxury condo in dtjc costs more than a 4 br house in greenville.

Even if you don't buy into a great place in dtjc, your place will still be worth more than something in other areas of JC.

You can get rid of the house but you can never get rid of the land under the house.

The only other way is to wait for the other parts of JC to gentrify and prosper...good luck with that.

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Not all condos downtown are gems, there are lots of dogs on the market. The gems will sell fast and comand premium prices, the dogs will languish on the market and go no where.

Interesting, the comments on NJ.com is calling this article a fluff piece and many, many condos are still vacant downtown.

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I've had the same experience. Realtors calling to see if I know anyone selling. They're saying they have no inventory right now and buyers waiting around for properties. Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the Spring/Summer real eastate season. If supply and demand are really as out of whack as they're making it sound JC and Hoboken could be in for some price jumps.

New Jersey Condo Market Heats Up as Demand Surges

New York Times
By RONDA KAYSEN
Published: April 9, 2013

WEEHAWKEN, N.J. ? After years of stagnating sales, the New Jersey condominium market is finally warming up, with developers building again and potential owners buying from floor plans.

A view of the Manhattan skyline from the Henley-on-the-Hudson condo development in Weehawken, N.J.
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Henley-on-the-Hudson in Weehawken is offering $570,000 one-bedroom units and $1.7 million three-bedroom units.
A handful of developers have revived projects and are releasing a few units in prime locations to willing buyers. In Weehawken, buyers have signed contracts for riverfront apartments sight unseen. Construction will not be completed for another month, yet all but one of the 36 units at one building are already under contract. A few miles north, in Palisades Park, developers converted a handful of rentals in a luxury development to condos. And in Long Branch, on the Jersey Shore, developers are getting ready to release 44 new units later this month.

Unlike New York City, where condo sales bounced back quickly after the recession hit, New Jersey has had a slower recovery. After the housing crisis, banks were unwilling to finance new condo construction and buyers were unable to get mortgages, so developers shelved condo projects and retreated to the rental market. But now a few developers see the low inventory of new condos for sale and the thriving New York market as signs that New Jersey is ready to sell again.

?The market is strong now, but it?s going to get stronger,? said Craig Klingensmith, division president of Lennar Urban, which developed Henley-on-the-Hudson in Weehawken with the Roseland Properties Company. ?If you have very good properties and they?re well situated, there are people looking to place their money.?

Lennar and Roseland will finish construction next month on the latest phase of Henley-on-the-Hudson, a community of condos and townhouses in the Port Imperial complex. Units in the latest condo building range from $570,000 for a 912-square-foot one-bedroom to $1.7 million for a 1,722-square-foot three-bedroom with a balcony, fireplace and city views. Interest has been so strong that on a recent weekend, 21 potential buyers stopped in at the sales office trailer, and only one unit is still available, said Mr. Klingensmith.

Despite local curiosity, 60 percent of the buyers are from overseas, many from China, Korea and Russia. ?If the international market wasn?t in the area, the market wouldn?t be as strong,? said Mr. Klingensmith.

The international buyers that have shown interest in Henley-on-the-Hudson are not investors looking for a pied-?-terre. Rather, they are generally younger buyers looking for a primary residence or a second home with easy access to Manhattan, and have been priced out of the New York City market.

Emboldened from the recent success at Henley-on-the-Hudson, Lennar, a publicly traded company, broke ground last September on a 74-unit development, also in Port Imperial. The Avenue, a seven-story waterfront building, will be the first stage in a five-building, 669-unit development. Lennar purchased the 10-acre waterfront parcel in 2007, but delayed the project during the recession. Walking distance from the New York Waterways Ferry Terminal, a 3,300-square-foot penthouse apartment with a private terrace will be marketed for $4 million. In an effort to lure international buyers, Mr. Klingensmith traveled to Paris last summer to promote the Avenue, which will begin selling in the fall.

Sales over all have improved in northern New Jersey from a year ago. Median condo prices in Hudson County are up 17.6 percent from the same time last year, to $344,400, according to data provided by Zillow. In Bergen County, they?re up 7.3 percent from a year ago, to $301,700. But prices still have a far way to climb to return to their March 2006 peak, when the median price for a condo in Hudson County, $384,000, was 10 percent higher than it is today. In Bergen County, it was 24 percent higher at $395,200. Compared to New York City, where the median condo price exceeds $1 million, sales have been relatively tame along New Jersey?s Gold Coast, which runs along the Hudson River from Jersey City to Englewood Cliffs.

?It?s not New York,? said Jordan Roth, Senior Branch Manager at GFI Mortgage Bankers. ?The New Jersey market allows people a path of entry to homeownership where they get much more space than they would if they bought in New York.?

Ultimately, most New Jersey buyers see a condo purchase as a pathway to buying a single-family home in the suburbs, which make up the majority of the New Jersey housing stock.

While the condo market has picked up on the Gold Coast, venture a few blocks away from the riverfront ? and direct public transit to New York City ? and developers are enticing buyers with deals. Last year, Phoenix Realty Group began selling some of the 71 rental units at the Trio, a 140-unit condo and rental complex overlooking a nature preserve in Palisades Park. In March, it opened The M at Englewood South, a development in Englewood that had been stalled since 2007. To lure buyers to both properties, the company is offering up to $25,000 off the list price, a credit that can be used toward apartment upgrades, a second parking spot or a price reduction. Buyers can also purchase a unit through a ?rent-to-own? agreement where a portion of their monthly rent is placed in an escrow account to be used toward a future down payment.

?We know that there are a lot of people out there who want to buy a condo and we need to give them a reason to do it,? said Ron Orgel, managing director at Phoenix Realty Group. ?It takes a lot of hand-holding.?

Prices in these areas are also lower than they are along the Gold Coast. At the Trio, prices start at $305,000 for a 742-square foot one-bedroom, up to $500,000 for a 1,416-square-foot two-bedroom. And at the M, a 125-unit rental and condo mix, prices start at $275,000 for a 755-square foot one-bedroom, and go up to $475,000 for a 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom.

A year ago, Ironstate Development considered a condo conversion at 55 Melrose, a four-story rental building at Pier Village, a beachfront community in Long Branch. But the company postponed, deciding that the market wasn?t strong enough yet. Since then, the mood has changed and later this month, Ironstate will begin marketing the 44 units starting at $295,000 for a one-bedroom up to $775,000 for a three-bedroom. These will be the first condos in the 536-unit luxury community.

?People are getting confident that for sure the worst is behind us,? said David Barry, president of Ironstate. ?There is a sense that now is a good time to invest in real estate, and that didn?t exist a couple of years ago.?

Real Estate agents are calling to find out if current owners in DTJC and Hoboken are willing to sell as the inventory is diminishing (down to 2 months).

So its tipping back to being a Seller's market. But waiting a bit more (1-2 years) will make more sense for Sellers, yes?

Ana M. Ferrer/The Jersey Journal


The New Jersey condominium market is starting to warm up, according to The New York Times.

Developers are building again and potential owners are buying straight from the floor plans, the newspaper reported.

"In Weehawken, buyers have signed contracts for riverfront units sight unseen. Construction will not be completed for another month, yet all but one of the 36 units at one building are already under contract," the article stated.

New Jersey had a slower recovery after the recession, unlike New York City, which made banks unwilling to finance new condo construction and making it difficult for buyers to get mortgages, the article states.

"The market is strong now, but it's going to get stronger," Craig Klingensmith, division president of Lennar Urban, which partnered with Roseland Property Company to develop Henley-on-the-Hudson in Weehawken, told the Times. "If you have very good properties and they're well situated, there are people looking to place their money."

The next phase of construction of Henley-on-the-Hudson in Weehawken is set to be completed next month.

The community of condos and townhouses are located in the Port Imperial complex with prices ranging from $570,000 for a 912 square foot one-bedroom unit to $1.7 million for a 1,722 square foot three bedroom unit with a balcony, fireplace and city views.