Four Housing Market Types in South Jersey Right Now

By Mike Lentz | The Mike Lentz Team - Keller Williams Realty

The housing market isn’t one single thing anymore. Four distinct housing market types are running at the same time across Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland counties. You’ve got cash buyers, buyers financing a purchase, owners who feel locked into a low rate, and builders with homes to sell. Which type you’re in changes how you should buy or sell. Ryan Serhant, CEO of SERHANT, agrees:

“There is no longer a housing market . . . There are four Americas.”

Here’s what each looks like, and what it means for you.

Cash Buyers: Understanding the First of Four Housing Market Types

If you already own a home, you may be able to buy your next place in cash thanks to your equity. Nationally, 26% of existing home sales this summer were all-cash, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That’s roughly 1 in 4 buyers across the country skipping a home loan entirely.

National data from Realtor.com shows most of those cash buyers are at the very top and very bottom of the market by price point (see graph below):

For Buyers

If you’re able to buy in cash too, having no financing contingency means your offer is going to look really appealing to sellers. You may get a faster close and more room to negotiate. That matters most in a multiple-offer situation, where the offer with no strings attached usually wins.

Most move-up buyers don’t have the cash sitting in the bank. Their equity is tied up in the house they live in. That’s where loan programs like Cash2Keys through AnnieMac Home Mortgage come in. They let you make a cash-backed, non-contingent offer on your next home before your current one sells, so you compete like a cash buyer. We walk through how those programs work, what they cost, and when they make sense in our guide on how to sell and buy a house at the same time.

For Sellers

A cash offer can mean less risk of the deal falling through. But that certainty sometimes comes with a lower number attached. Compare the whole picture before deciding it’s automatically your best offer.

Buyers Using Financing: The Housing Market Type Getting Help from Sellers

If you’re looking to take out a mortgage, you should know mortgage rates aren’t likely to come down anytime soon. Data from Fannie Mae shows nearly half of experts actually raised their long-term rate forecast this year (see graphs below):

That’s tough for homebuyers relying on a mortgage, especially first-time buyers. But it’s not all bad news.

While buyers may not be getting the lower rates they want, at least there’s help to be had if you ask sellers for what you really need. Across South Jersey, 34.9% of homes sold this summer (June through August) included a seller concession like a rate buydown or closing-cost credit, based on our analysis of Bright MLS closed sales. That’s roughly 1 in 3 sales, and the typical concession was $5,500.

How often sellers help depends on where you’re buying. Salem County led this summer at 39.0% of sales, followed by Camden (37.2%), Cumberland (35.4%), and Burlington (35.2%). Gloucester County was lowest at 29.8%. Timing matters too: concessions ran higher over the winter, with 40.8% of February sales including one.

For Buyers

Stop waiting on rates to drop. Negotiate the concession instead. If the payment works today, that’s your signal.

For Sellers

Expect to negotiate. Building a concession into your pricing strategy from the start could be the thing that gets a deal done.

Rate-Locked Homeowners: How This Housing Market Type Affects Inventory

If you own a home already, you might not want to move and take on a higher rate than the one you’ve got. That’s the case for a lot of people. About 2 in 3 homeowners have a mortgage rate under 5%, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) data (see graph below).

When a homeowner has a rate that low, it’s harder for them to want to move and leave behind that ultra-low rate. They’d likely have to take on a higher one on their next home. Hence “rate locked”: they feel locked in.

And, according to Fannie Mae data, most experts think that lock-in will stick around another 3-5 years. That means this will continue to be a factor in how many homes come up for sale.

For Buyers

Fewer homeowners are listing, but the ones who do usually have a real reason to move. They’re often more flexible, motivated sellers.

For Sellers

Run the math on what your equity actually buys before ruling out a move. Got an FHA or VA loan? Ask about making it assumable. It’s rare, but it’s a real selling point.

Homebuilders: The Housing Market Type Negotiating More Than You Think

If you’re looking at new construction, this might be your moment. Nationally, the latest Census data shows builders have more unsold new homes sitting around than usual. Enough that it would take nearly 10 months to sell them all at the current pace, well above the normal 4 to 6 months.

South Jersey shows the same slowdown in its own closings. New construction homes that sold here in the 12 months through August spent a median 53 days on the market, up from 28 days the year before, based on our analysis of Bright MLS closed sales. And 38.2% of them closed below list price, up from 29.7%. Builders are waiting longer for buyers and giving more ground to get deals done, which is pushing them toward price cuts and rate buydowns.

For Buyers

That’s where the deals are right now. Just be sure to use your own agent and compare the whole incentive package, not only the price tag.

For Sellers

Lead with what a builder can’t offer. Mature landscaping, an established neighborhood, and a house that’s ready today, not in 8 months. Buyers are responding to that: resale homes here sold in a median 19 days over the past year, against 53 for new construction.

Bottom Line: Which Housing Market Type Are You In?

Four different housing market types are running at once: cash buyers, financed buyers, locked-in owners, and builders. Each one plays by its own rules, and the right move for one is exactly the wrong move for another.

Let’s figure out which one you’re actually in and build your next move from there. If you want to talk through what this means for your situation, schedule a quick call and we’ll walk through it together.

For the full picture in your county, see our county market reports for Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland counties.