By Mike Lentz | The Mike Lentz Team - Keller Williams Realty
Yes, nationally. More than 40 percent of active listings see a weekly price cut, and July 2026 posted the lowest median list price for any July in five years. Locally, only about 9 percent of South Jersey listings had a price cut in the week ending August 23. The trend line matches national, but the pace here is much slower.
You’re scrolling through listings on your phone and everything looks good until you see the price or the estimated monthly payment. Then you close the app.
Because even if you love the house, the numbers feel impossible.
The national headlines say relief is coming. There are more homes sitting on the market than buyers to fill them. More than 40 percent of sellers are cutting their asking price each week. And July 2026 posted the lowest median list price for any July in five years.
That is the national story. What we see on the ground across Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Salem, and Cumberland counties is more nuanced. South Jersey is softening, but not to the same degree, and buyers here need a realistic picture of what that means for their offer.
The National Picture: More Than 40 Percent of Sellers Cut Prices Each Week
Seller price cuts are one of the clearest signs sellers are adjusting. HousingWire Data shows more than 40 percent of active listings see a price reduction in any given week.
That is just slightly behind the volume we saw last year (see graph below):
That is more than four out of every ten homes listed getting a fresh price cut every week. Nationally, sellers know that to move a listing they have to give ground, and when buyers stop biting, they pull the biggest lever they have. As Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com, explains:
“This is a market where people are adjusting and showing up rather than giving up. Sellers are meeting the market with more realistic asking prices, which is helping deals get done.”
July 2026 Posted the Lowest Median List Price in Five Years
Roughly six in ten sellers did not need a mid-listing price cut because they priced conservatively from the start rather than test a higher number and get crickets.
That is one reason July 2026 had the lowest national median list price of any July in the past five years, according to Realtor.com (see the white line in the graph below):
That does not mean home values are falling. Prices nationally are still well above where they were before the pandemic. It means sellers are no longer banking on bidding wars or expecting buyers to pay whatever they ask, so many are listing at prices that better reflect today’s market from day one.
What This Actually Looks Like in South Jersey
The national trend does show up here, but muted. Inventory is expanding across every county we cover. Weekly price cuts are up 29 percent year over year. Days on market have ticked up modestly. But median prices are still rising year over year in four of our five counties, and homes are still selling fast when they are priced right.
The July 2026 numbers from Bright MLS:
- Camden County: median sale price $387,000, up 7.5 percent year over year. Active inventory 1,075 homes, up 31 percent. Median days on market 16. About 56 percent of homes still closing above list price.
- Burlington County: median sale price $437,000, up 5.3 percent. Active inventory 1,115, up 24 percent. Median days on market 17. About 53 percent closing above list.
- Gloucester County: median sale price $400,000, up 0.6 percent. Active inventory 658, up 8 percent. Median days on market 15. Homes closing above list slipped from 55 percent to 49 percent.
- Salem County: median sale price $350,000. Active inventory 222, up 13 percent. Median days on market 26. About 39 percent closing above list.
- Cumberland County: median sale price $289,500. Active inventory 404, up 33 percent. Median days on market 30, up from 22 a year ago. About 45 percent closing above list.
Now compare that to the national price-cut story. In the week ending August 23, 341 South Jersey listings took a price cut, roughly 9 percent of our active inventory in a single week. That is well below the 40 percent national pace, so South Jersey sellers are holding their pricing firmer than the country as a whole. What is comparable is the direction: weekly cut counts have run above 300 through most of August, up 29 percent from the same weeks a year ago and the highest sustained pace we have seen in over a year.
The honest read: South Jersey is loosening, not tanking. Buyers here have more inventory to choose from and more time to make a decision than they did a year ago. Prices are not collapsing. Well-priced homes are still selling in two to four weeks, and in Camden and Burlington roughly half of them still close above the asking price.
What This Means for South Jersey Buyers
The national picture makes it sound like sellers are chasing buyers. Locally, that is a stretch. What buyers here actually have is more choice, more time, and more leverage on terms, not steep discounts.
That leverage shows up in three places:
- Contingencies you can include again: inspection, financing, and appraisal contingencies that got waived routinely two years ago are back on the table at most price points.
- Seller concessions: help with closing costs, a rate buy-down, or credit for repairs after inspection. This is where many South Jersey buyers now find real savings, more so than through price cuts alone.
- Realistic negotiation on price: a well-supported offer at three to five percent under list has a real chance on a home that has been on the market three-plus weeks. That is a change from 2022 and 2023.
What you should not expect: sellers panicking or slashing prices across the board. That is the national headline, and it is not what our data shows in Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Salem, or Cumberland. A prepared buyer here gets a fair price and better terms, not a steep discount.
Bottom Line
Nationally, seller price cuts are running at a pace we have not seen since before the pandemic. Locally, sellers are cutting less aggressively, median prices are still up year over year in most of our counties, and about half of Camden and Burlington homes are still closing above asking.
What South Jersey buyers should take from this: you have more choice than you did a year ago, more time to make a decision, and better leverage on inspection, concessions, and terms. What you should not do is walk into an offer expecting the seller to cut their price by tens of thousands to match the national headline. That is not the market we are in.
If you want to talk through what this actually looks like for the price range and town you are shopping in, schedule a quick call and we can walk through it together.
For the full picture in your county, see our county market reports for Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland counties.
