By Mike Lentz | The Mike Lentz Team - Keller Williams Realty
Yes, and unit sales are the clearest evidence. Over the past year, sales above $1 million across the five South Jersey counties rose about 18 percent while total closings held flat and sales under $250,000 fell 10 percent. Buyers are concentrating at the top of the market. How much that helps you depends on your county.
Owners of luxury homes in South Jersey are in a stronger position than most sellers right now. Much of the market has cooled while the high-end tier has held. Buyer demand above $700,000 has stayed steady, and in the Philadelphia-facing counties high-end homes are going under contract in about half the time everything else takes.
The national coverage of this trend is accurate, and it flattens out differences that matter when you are the one setting a list price. Start with what luxury means where you live.
What Counts as a Luxury Home in South Jersey
A luxury home is generally one in the top 5 percent price range for its area. That definition sounds precise until you compare counties. The threshold moves by hundreds of thousands of dollars across a region you can drive across in an hour.
Here is where the top 5 percent begins in each county, based on Bright MLS closed sales from August 2025 through July 2026:
| County | Top 5% starts at | Typical luxury sale | County median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | $875,000 | $1,026,500 | $400,000 |
| Camden | $760,000 | $883,000 | $362,000 |
| Gloucester | $700,000 | $800,000 | $375,000 |
| Salem | $615,000 | $700,000 | $279,950 |
| Cumberland | $499,400 | $575,000 | $272,295 |
In Moorestown, 114 homes closed above $700,000 over the past twelve months and the town median was $785,000. In Vineland, seven sales out of 458 cleared $700,000. Same region, same twelve months, two very different definitions of the top of the market. A seller working from national luxury advice is working from a market that behaves like Moorestown, and most of South Jersey does not.
The high end is also concentrated in a handful of towns. Moorestown accounted for roughly a third of the luxury sales in Burlington County, at a typical $1.17 million. Haddonfield carried the largest share in Camden County at a typical $1.2 million. In Gloucester County the high end runs through Mullica Hill, where luxury sales cluster around $849,000.
Selling Luxury Homes: Prices Are Rising Faster
Start with prices. According to the latest data from Redfin, sale prices for luxury houses nationally have risen about three times faster than for non-luxury properties. The typical home’s sale price is up about 1.5 percent year over year, while high-end sale prices have climbed nearly 5 percent since last year.
That three-to-one price gap shows up in Burlington County and almost nowhere else in South Jersey.
The luxury threshold in Burlington County climbed 5.1 percent over the past year while the county median rose 2.6 percent, so the high end did move about twice as fast. In the other counties the ordinary market kept pace or did better. The median in Camden County rose 4.6 percent against a luxury threshold that rose 2.7 percent. Gloucester County came in at 4.2 percent against 3.6 percent. The luxury threshold in Salem County slipped, on a base of about 40 high-end sales for the year, which is thin enough to treat as noise.
For a high-end seller here, that changes what to expect. The advantage in this market shows up in demand and in time on market, not in price growth. A list price built on a 5 percent national bump will sit.
Buyers Are Still Active When Selling Luxury Homes
Headlines keep reporting that buyers are pulling back. At the upper price points the opposite is happening, and the higher the price point, the more active the buyers.
Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), explains:
“The luxury market has really performed better compared to the lower price point. . . . if we look at price points, any home priced under $250,000, virtually no change in unit sales from one year ago. Then you go into the upper price category, and home sales are up about 10% from one year ago. But the million dollar-plus homes, it is up by 18% from one year ago.“
South Jersey Matches This Almost Exactly
We ran those national figures against our own closed sales across Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Salem, and Cumberland counties for the twelve months ending July 31, 2026:
- Total closings held flat, down about a third of a percent from the year before.
- Sales above $1 million rose from 197 to 232, an increase of nearly 18 percent.
- Sales above $750,000 rose from 784 to 931, up almost 19 percent.
- Sales under $250,000 fell from 3,341 to 3,006, a drop of 10 percent.
Total volume in the region held steady while the mix shifted upward. About 335 sales came out of the bottom of the market and about 150 were added at the top. High-end buyers here carry less affordability pressure than most households, so they continue to transact while the rest of the market waits on rates.
Homes Are Moving Relatively Quickly
According to the most recent data from Redfin, the national median days on market for luxury homes is under 50. That is much faster than pre-pandemic norms going even as far back as 2014.
South Jersey runs well under that figure, and again the county changes the answer. Luxury homes in Camden County went under contract in a median of 12 days against 19 days for the rest of the market. Burlington County ran 14 days against 20. Both are Philadelphia area commuter markets with deep buyer pools, and the high end is the fastest-moving part of each.
The advantage narrows moving south and west. Luxury homes in Gloucester County took 16 days against 17 for everything else, which is no real edge. In Cumberland County high-end homes took longer than the rest of the market, 34 days against 31, because the buyer pool at that price point is thinner. Salem County came in at 30 days either way.
Sellers in Moorestown and Haddonfield can reasonably expect speed. Sellers in Vineland or Woodstown should plan for more time on market, price the home strategically from day one, and read through how to sell your home fast in South Jersey before listing.
Why the Luxury Market Is Holding Strong
Several factors explain why the high-end market continues to outperform. Affluent buyers are less sensitive to mortgage rate changes. Many purchase with significant cash down payments or all cash. They are also less likely to delay a purchase because of economic uncertainty.
Two local conditions reinforce that. Philadelphia area commuter demand keeps a steady flow of well-qualified buyers pointed at Moorestown, Haddonfield, and Cherry Hill, where strong school districts and a manageable commute support prices that do not appear elsewhere in South Jersey. Supply at the top also stays tight because new construction barely reaches this price band. Of the roughly 700 South Jersey sales above $800,000 in the past year, 31 were new builds.
Tight supply combined with steady demand is what has kept the upper end firm through a year when total sales went nowhere. For anyone weighing the best time to sell a house, conditions at the top of this market are about as favorable as they have been.
Bottom Line
Selling a high-end home is a significant decision and it deserves real numbers going in. In South Jersey the numbers say luxury prices are rising at roughly the same rate as the rest of the market, while luxury buyers keep showing up in growing numbers. Sales above $1 million rose nearly 18 percent in a year when total closings did not move.
What that means for you depends on your county and your town. The highest sale in Millville over the past year was $865,000. In Haddonfield, the median sale was $895,000. Those two sellers need different pricing, different marketing, and different expectations about timing.
To talk through what this means for your situation, schedule a quick call and we will walk through your price point, your town, and what the recent comparable sales support.
For the full picture where you are, see our county market reports for Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland counties.
South Jersey figures are drawn from Bright MLS closed sales in Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, Salem, and Cumberland counties for the twelve months ending July 31, 2026, compared against the same twelve months a year earlier. Luxury is defined as the top 5 percent of closed sales in each county.
