Union County NJ Short Sales Dropping

Short sales are when a seller attempts to list a home where the value is expected to be less than the outstanding mortgage balance. Since market values in the area began declining beginning in 2006 or so, listings such as this have been a mainstay of the NJ real estate environment, especially in the more densely populated and low to moderately priced areas in the state.

Based on our observations, this year has seen a marked decline in the percentage of new listings that are short sale listings.

This ratio tends to vary based on the season, so there is some variation but according to our data, in Q1 of 2013 18.9% of all new listings in Union County were identified as short sales. During the same timeframe in 2014, that number had dropped to 17.4%, indicating the ratio of short sales had declined roughly 8%. In Q2 of 2014, the rate of decline accelerated with short sales dropping to 12.3% from 15.2%  the same time frame a year earlier. This is a 19% decline in the percentage of short sale listings and a very good sign for markets!